


Insanity

by Alwaysgurl43



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Bets & Wagers, Competition, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Insanity, Slow Burn, Workout
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 74,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22997458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alwaysgurl43/pseuds/Alwaysgurl43
Summary: Definition:1. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result.2. The workout that Emily Prentiss had tricked him into doing for the next 67 days.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 32
Kudos: 93





	1. Day One

"Hotch, it'll be fun." She throws out from the couch across his office.

"I think you've forgotten the definition of that word." Her best friend and boss says from where he's seated at his desk munching on a sandwich from their favorite cafe.

"Ok, maybe fun is the wrong word, but it will be a good challenge." Emily tries to convince him to join her again before placing a chip into her mouth.

"Why don't you ask Morgan to join you? He'd probably enjoy it."

"He'd probably laugh at my struggle." Emily pauses before adding, "He probably wouldn't break a sweat during it. I need someone to suffer with me."

"Suffer? I thought this was supposed to be fun."

"We can turn it into a challenge." Emily hopes that Aaron won't turn down a chance to win.

"I already trained for a triathlon this year. Do I really need more of a challenge?"

"I meant more like a bet." This piques Aaron's interest.

"What would the bet be?" Aaron's mind fills with a few options he would love, but he can't imagine Emily ever going for.

"You can pick. I'm doing this so I can lose a bit of weight before my beach vacation in three months. But how about you come over after work with an idea for the bet and we can take the before pictures and do the first work out?" And Aaron can't believe the words that come out of his mouth.

"Fine."

When Aaron shows up at Emily's door, he'd dreading all of it. It's insanity, all of it. First of all they're doing the actual work out, Insanity, which he's not even sure his body will survive through, but he's also not sure she will agree to his bet. He looked up the results that people tend to get online and they look amazing. Hell, he'd look like Morgan if those results are typical. Maybe Emily pushing him to work out with her is her cluing him in on what she wants too… no that can't be it. He hesitates as he thinks it over, but forces himself to lift his fist to knock on her door. A few moments later, the door swings open and his best friend stands in front of him in a tank top that reads 'Abs Are Great But Have You Tried Donuts?', shorts and a pair of sneakers.

"Hey Hotch. Come on in. You're not allergic to cats right?" He shakes his head as he walks in her front door. "Good, good. I should have asked before I invited you over. Sergio doesn't like being shut off in different rooms. The whole house is his kingdom, you know?" A black cat walks out of the hallway and takes in the visitor that has entered into _his_ house. "I swear once he warms up to you, he's a love bug." She turns to her cat and scoops him up. "Aren't you Serge?" Aaron makes his way over to try and introduce himself to the black ball of fur in Emily's arms.

"Hi Sergio." The king of the castle sniffs at the hand, but allows him to give pets. The bringer of food seems to think this man is ok, so he'll allow him to be here… for now anyway. Speaking of food, he should check to see if his bowl is full. He twists and turns until Emily puts him down. "So did you figure out what the bet is?"

"So we have to take pictures?" Their voices fill the room at the same time.

"Sorry, you go first." Emily's hand motions for him to go ahead.

"No, no, ladies first." Aaron's hands rise up to fence his words.

"Ok. I was just wondering if you figured out what the bet would be."

"I… uh, came up with something. But feel free to say no."

"Ok…?" Emily is apprehensive, if only at how Aaron is phrasing it.

"If we make it through the 60 days-"

"67 days." Emily corrects.

"Ok, 67 days." Aaron amends his statement. "If we make it through Insanity, I get to take you out on a date. If we quit then no harm, no foul."

"A date…?" The apprehension comes through her voice clearly.

"As friends, as more, it doesn't really matter. But I will take it this plan has an insane eating plan so it will be a reward essentially."

"If we fail do I have to take you out then?" Emily asks. A date with Emily either way? There's definitely an easy answer to this question.

"Sure. If that's how you want to make this bet."

"Fine, you have a deal." Emily sticks her hand out towards her. He takes her soft, yet gun calloused hand in his and shakes it.

"So we do it appears." Aaron holds her hand a few seconds longer than he needs to before releasing her. "Now pictures?"

"Right!" Emily clears her throat as though the words had got caught on the way out.

"It's for the before and afters right?"

"Mmhmm. I'm no unsub. I'm not trying to get a weird photo of you in workout gear to hold on to." Emily says with a laugh.

"Never said you were Em." The nickname slips out before he can stop it. He had never said it to her face, only in his head and it catches her off guard.

"I'll, uh, grab my phone." She turns to walk into most likely her bedroom and it gives Aaron a few moments to look around her living room. There's a book on her coffee table- Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin- with a bookmark haphazardly stuck inside as if she shoved it inside when he knocked on the door. There's photos in frames and little trinkets on the shelves of her bookshelf that he wants to know all the stories behind. "Got it. I also grabbed my laptop. I don't think we'll need any weights but if we do we can grab them."

"From where?" Aaron asks, in all honesty not knowing.

"My spare bedroom. It's an office slash workout equipment storage." Emily explains.

"Oh, ok. Do we have to do anything special for these photos?" Aaron asks as he thinks back to how most of the men were shirtless. He thinks of all his scars and hopes that's not the case.

"Um, let's see." Emily pulls up Google and types in a few key words. The first few pages look like a bust before she finds a sight that looks like it might actually work for them. The first few paragraphs don't tell her much of what she needs to know, but scrolling past them, she finds the actual information. "Ok so it says basically to wear a swimsuit or form fitting gym clothes." Does she really want to wear a swimsuit in front of her boss? Yes he's her best friend too, but there has to be a line somewhere, right? "We're both already in gym clothes so that's probably fine. And it goes on to say you should show as much of your body as you're comfortable with but keeping it appropriate for the public." Emily thinks about how all the people she saw in the photos had pretty natural looking bodies. None of them had weird looking scars like she does on her stomach, so the shirt should stay on right? "Lastly, it says we need a front facing picture and side views as well. Oh and if we want to be entered to win prizes our faces have to be included."

"I don't know if I need to win a prize." Emily could almost hear the real reason that he wasn't going to put his face in the picture; it was the same reason she was thinking about it- their job and the people they put behind bars.

"Well then the pictures can just be for us. We don't have to show anyone else. Or if anything, we could use them to get out of the physical fitness test this year." Emily teases.

"I think if we can finish Insanity, we can finish the fitness evaluation." Her boss steps into the room, not letting her get out of the test that they're all required to take in order to stay in the field.

"Fine, fine, whatever. So the pictures will be for us to see our progress. You want to take first or go first?" Emily asks.

"I'll take first." Aaron still hadn't decided what to do about his shirt and he knew Emily also had scars, so being he was being selfish by making her go first, but so be it.

"Ok. How about we take it against this wall? It's pretty neutral?" Emily points to the wall opposite of them.

"Fine by me." She hands her phone to Aaron, takes a deep breath and then lifts her shirt off. Emily Prentiss is shirtless in front of him! He can barely believe it! The scar across her midriff is shocking to see, even though he knew it was there, but the sight of taking in more of her flesh than he normally was allowed to look at overpowered it. _Focus Hotchner! The picture! She's not here for you to ogle!_ He holds the camera up and counts, "One, two, three." She turns to the side and he repeats his actions.

"Your turn," Emily says as she picks up her shirt from the floor. Aaron feels like since Emily showed him her scars, he can trust her with his. His isn't one big scar, like hers, but lots of little ones. But this isn't a new girlfriend who doesn't understand what this job comes with, this is SSA Emily Prentiss, the one who found his apartment when Foyet came after him. She knows the story behind his scars. So he breathes in and takes his shirt off on the exhale. The little white marks all over Aaron's chest remind Emily of walking into that apartment, so she tries to push the thoughts from her head. "One, two, three." She counts before snapping the photo. He turns and just for fun she decides to count in another language. "Un, deux, trio." Aaron rolls his eyes, but says nothing as he picks up his shirt from the floor.

"So what killer workout are we looking forward to today?"

"Today is just the fitness test." Emily explains as she pulls a PDF file up on her computer. "But I figure after it we can go over the eating plan because you were right there is an eating plan with it."

"Ok, well let's start with the fitness test. What goes into it?"

"Eight moves, one minute each, as many reps as you can do in a minute." Emily says, showing him the PDF.

"Switch Kick, Power Jacks, Power Knees, Power Jumps, Globe Jumps, Suicide Jumps, Push Up Jacks, Low Plank Obliques." Aaron looks at each move and how it's supposed to be done. "That doesn't look too bad. So should we do like each move alternating?" Emily looks at him with the confusion painted across her face. "Like I can do a move and then you do the move?" Emily can't stop the giggle that escapes her lips. "What?"

"Insanity doesn't allow breaks in the fitness test. You just do all eight back to back. So do you want to go first?" Aaron should have seen it coming, but he'll just have to suck it up.

"If I die, you have to take Jack." Aaron says as he looks over the moves once more.

"It's eight minutes. I don't think it will kill you." Emily says as she pulls up the stopwatch app on her phone.

"It might…" Aaron grumbles.

"If it does, I'll take care of Jack. Want to stretch before attacking these?"

"Probably a good idea." Emily and Aaron both stretch out their bodies before they both look at each other, dreading the actual start of it. Emily glances at the BeachBody page before they get started.

"Oh wait, there's an actual video for the Fitness Test, should we watch it?"

"How long is it?"

"Half an hour."

"How do they make eight minutes into half an hour?" Aaron demands.

"I'm guessing they stretch you out and show you how to do the exercises."

"I guess we can watch it," Aaron's voice returns back to the grumble.

"You can always back out Hotch. I can do this on my own."

"No, we already made our bet. It can't be that much worse than training for the triathlon."

It was so much worse than the triathlon training.

Emily was right, there was a warm up, but it was nothing like the light stretching that they had just done. It was a bunch of intense moves, back to back to back. It is followed by some stretching, but again, nothing like what they had done. Emily pulls out the notepad on her phone. "I'll write our numbers down here," she says in the first short rest. "We can transfer them onto the other page once we print it."

"Three, two, one and go!" The instructor that looks a little too much like Morgan for Aaron's taste calls out and the screen flips between the two people actually doing the work outs and his motivational coaching. The workout continues as Emily and Aaron go between different exercises with the video. After each minute, Aaron calls his number out to Emily who jots it down. By the end of the workouts, Aaron feels ready to die for real, but also ready to see who did better on the workouts, him or Emily, his competitive nature coming out.

"Inhale up, exhale down, let's start to cool those muscles down." Both Emily and Aaron are dripping with sweat as they cool down with the video. That workout, sorry _fitness test_ had killed them both. They could both feel their aching bones but the stretches felt so good. Aaron flexes his hamstrings along with the instructor and feels the pull that he hasn't felt since he was training for the triathlon. They do a couple more stretches before the time on the video runs to a close. And as soon as it's done, Aaron falls to the ground.

"That was awful."

"That was only day one." Emily comments, holding back the laugh she wants to release at Aaron's comment, only because she is betting it will hurt her abs.

"Who did better?" He asks as he lays on the ground trying to catch his breath. Emily looks at the numbers.

"Well we tied on switch kicks with 20 reps and on globe jumps with 4. Power jacks I beat you by four and power knees I got 60 on your 41. But then you got 18 power jumps over my 14 as well as 18 suicide jumps over my 17. But push up jacks I managed to beat you 23 to 21. So it all comes down to deciding low plank obliques and… huh. You beat my 21 to 20. So I think we tied."

"Well, it's a good thing our bet doesn't rely on someone beating the other on the fitness test then." Aaron says as he pushes up off the floor.

"You want some water?" Emily asks as she turns towards her kitchen.

"That would be amazing." Aaron follows her into the kitchen, where she reaches into her fridge and pulls out two bottles of water.

"Here." The second one is passed in his direction. "Let me grab my computer and we can look over the eating plan, or I can email it to you if you need to get back to Jack." Aaron glances at his watch, and notes that it's almost dinner time for his son.

"I should probably get home to Jack. It's almost dinner time. But how about I call you if I have any questions?" Emily nods.

"That sounds good to me. Tell Jack I say hi." Emily follows him towards the door, not expecting to hear from him for the rest of the night. But when her phone goes off after dinner, she's almost surprised to see his face on her phone, especially since it can't be a case since Garcia would be calling with that. "Hotch?"

"What the hell is shakeology?" It takes her a second to click what he's talking about.

"Oh, it's the shake brand that the company that sells Insanity makes. It's basically just protein shakes." Emily runs a hand through her hair as she smiles at how easy that question was. "Anything else question wise?"

"Yeah anyway to make this food kid friendly?"

"Why?"

"Because I make Jack and my meals together and there's no way in hell I'm going to get him to eat cottage cheese."

"You might need to make two separate meals for this." A groan comes from the other end of the phone. "You don't have to follow through with the meal plan, but if you want the results, it will definitely help."

"Why did I let you trick me into this?" She can almost see him running a hand over his face like he does when a case is frustrating him.

"You can always give up Hotch, but that just means I'll be buying you dinner. But I don't know what happens if I finish and you don't. We never discussed that as terms of our bet."

"No I'll do it. But you know that five meals a day is going to be ridiculous the next time we leave on a case."

"Guess we'll have to figure it out when it happens." Luckily, she already had some ideas on how to make that work.


	2. Day Two

From the moment he opened his eyes, he knew his body was going to hate him today. Working out yesterday had been a fun thing, mainly for the getting to spend more time with Emily, but from the actual working out side of things, it had been pure hell. He’s itching to slam his snooze button, but he knows he has to get Jack going and manage to eat an actual breakfast this morning. Rolling over, he turns off his alarm and composes a text to Emily.

**Please tell me your body**

**is as sore as mine is**

**You’re definitely not alone.**

Why he thought doing Insanity would be the same level of difficulty as training for the triathlon, he can’t fathom at this point. The other insane thought that’s running through his head is how in the world is he going to get Jack to agree to the healthier breakfast this morning. The things they have in their pantry so he doesn’t have to go grocery shopping are basically the stuff to make the oatmeal recipe in the book, apart from the protein powder. Guess it means he’ll have to drink an extra shake or something in the day, but he can’t get any protein powder until after he drops Jack off at school so oatmeal sans protein powder will have to do.

“I don’t want oatmeal.” Jack whines from his spot at the table, looking at the bowl of mush and berries in front of him. “I want cheerios.”

“Well we’re having oatmeal today. It’s cold outside, I figured something warm would be good.” It’s not that cold outside, but something other than saying it’s healthy is the best bet with his seven year old.

“I’m not cold right now.” The whine leaves his mouth almost as soon as his father’s explanation does. “I want cheerios.” The demand is repeated.

“If you eat your oatmeal today, you can have cheerios tomorrow.” Aaron realizes Emily was right. He’s probably going to have to make two separate meals for him and Jack until this challenge is over. It might be more time consuming, but listening to his son whine for 67- 66 he corrects himself- days was going to be more frustrating than dealing with making two different food choices.

Besides the breakfast debacle, getting Jack off to school was fairly simple. He had just enough time to stop by Target and pick out one of the many protein shakes, a shaker bottle, and some protein bars that had some good reviews online before he had to head into the BAU. He still wanted his coffee, so he figures he’ll make coffee when he gets into the office and he’ll have his first shake as his midmorning snack. Stepping onto the elevator, he lugs his target purchases with him along with his go bag, his briefcase, and his jacket that he doesn’t truly need right now.

“You moving in Aaron?” Dave’s voice teases him as he walks into the bullpen. “Or did you bring us treats this morning?” The older man eyes the bag with the red bullseye on it.

“Just had to pick up some stuff before work.” Aaron dismisses the questions before he makes his way to his office. Usually he makes it in to the building before anyone else, but with the added stop to Target, he doesn’t get to avoid the wandering eyes of other agents. They’re all curious about the purchases in his hands, but holding his head up high, he makes his way towards his way to his office. Emily meets his eyes as she takes a sip from a large water bottle at her desk. He nods towards her before starting towards the stairs to his office. Mentally, he makes a note to get a water bottle too. Guess he needs to head back to Target.

Sitting down at his office, he starts to pull things out of his briefcase and places them at his desk. There’s cases he needs to go over to decide if the team is heading there and there’s files he needs to sign off on. But first he needs to get some caffeine in him. So after only spending five minutes in his office, he’s back down the stairs and making his way towards the break room.

“Taking a break already?” He turns to find Emily standing behind him.

“Getting coffee before getting started.” He pulls a mug out of the cabinet. “Want some?”

“I had some in my shake this morning.”

“Your shake?”

“My protein shake. It’s one of the few ways I get that stuff down.” Emily shrugs. “It’s not that bad, but I don’t like drinking it. I highly recommend you try it out.”

“I actually just bought shake stuff. It’s in my office.” A small smile appears on Emily’s face.

“Want to try it out?”

“I’ll look like a gym nut.”

“It’s bound to happen eventually.” Emily shrugs. “But it’s up to you.”

“Wait here.” Aaron heads back to his office for the second time to grab the shaker. He can add the powder after all the liquid is in there. After grabbing the shaker, he walks back to where Emily is waiting for him. 

“Ok, so I do a mix of how much liquid my shakes call for with coffee and milk. Mine calls for 10 ounces of liquid. But sometimes I’ll do ten of milk and then add coffee before adding my protein powder. It depends on the day and how much I want to drink. Do you know how much liquid your’s calls for?”

“I think it’s about the same.”

“Do you want me to measure it for you?”Aaron nods and allows Emily to measure out coffee, milk and then offers sweetener to him, knowing how he takes his coffee. Aaron nods, not knowing how the protein powder tastes. “Just add the protein powder and shake it up.”

“Thanks Emily. If only you could attack the files sitting on my desk.”

“Think that falls to you Unit Chief.” She flashes a smile at him. “Don’t want people to think I can do everyone's jobs here.” She pauses for a moment before adding, “Do you want me to come over to your place after work since you have Jack?”

“Hmm?”

“So we can get the workout in?”

“Right the workout.” Aaron’s voice is filled with disdain.

“It’s only half an hour.” Emily reminds him. “Get it in and get it done or something like that.”

“I guess we can do it at my place. Jack might try to join us, well as best he can.”

“How did he take the healthy eating?”

“How’d you know?”

“Because you’re stubborn. So how’d he take it?”

“Not well. I had to bribe him with the fact that he’s allowed to have cheerios tomorrow.”

“So are you sticking with the idea of one meal for you both?” Aaron shakes his head.

“It’s not worth filling my house with Jack’s whines. I’d rather have a happy kid heading off to school in the morning.” Emily follows Aaron as he starts to walk back to his office to get his protein powder. “Plus it’s Jack. As long as he eats his fruits and vegetables, I’m fairly happy.” He expects her to turn off at her desk, but instead she follows him up into his office. “Did you miss the turn off for your desk?”

“I want to see what you think of the shake.” Emily says as she takes a seat on his couch. Aaron realizes he should have guessed that, but he missed that idea. Maybe he needs this shake more than he realized. He reaches over to the other side of his desk and pulls out the container of protein. He dumps a couple of scoops into the blender bottle, screws the top on, and shakes it up. He’s not sure what he expects when he opens the lid, but he takes the first sip and pleasantly he’s not disappointed by the taste.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a vanilla latte, but it still tastes ok.”

“Hey! That’s a win!” Emily’s smile brightens her whole face.

“Whoa, did we start a workout club and no one invited me?” Morgan’s voice comes from Aaron’s doorway as he looks at Hotch standing at the desk with a thing of protein powder sitting in front of him.

“Something like that,” Emily says with a laugh as she pushes off the couch, her muscles in protest of the activities they did yesterday. She pats Morgan on the shoulder and throws Aaron a smile as she walks out of his office.

“Do I get to know the inside joke?” Morgan asks as he sits down on the chair in front of Aaron’s desk.

“It’s nothing. Don’t you have files to be working on?” Aaron ask, setting the shaker bottle down, hoping to not draw attention to it. Morgan holds up the case files in his hands.

“I was bringing them to you.” He holds them out to his boss. “But seriously Hotch, if you’re wanting to get more lean or muscular or whatever, I’d be happy to help you out.”

“Emily and I just have a bet going on. Nothing more.” Aaron waves his hand to try and move the words out of his office so this conversation can be over.

“A bet, you say? Now that makes it so much more interesting. What could it be? Losing weight? No you’re both pretty fit already. Gaining muscle? Could be.”

“Do you need something Agent Morgan? I have work to be doing and so do you.” The Hotch glare comes into the room.

“I’ll go bug Prentiss about this. She’s more fun to mess with anyway.”

“Just make sure your case work gets finished. And that you let her get her’s done.” It might be a slow day, but if he lets them slack off, that’s the moment that they’ll get slammed with cases and none of their files will get completed. 

“Sure, sure Hotch.” Morgan’s voice is thrown over his shoulder before he leaves the office. With no more distraction, Aaron is able to actually start chiseling away at the stack of files sitting on his desk. He starts with the easier pile, signing off on everything. Most of these files it’s his second or even third time reading over the files to check that everything is finally, hopefully in line. A couple of them have to go back in the pile to get worked on again. But most of them are fine to sign off on. After he finishes signing off on them he starts reading through potential cases they might take. He splits them into a few different piles- cases they could take, cases they can’t take but can help build a profile, and cases that they won’t be able to help on because there isn’t enough information yet. It always hurts to put cases in the last pile, but sometimes there really is nothing they can do.

“Knock knock.” Emily’s voice interrupts his thoughts.

“Come in.” He glances up from the file he was looking at for Ann Arbor, Michigan about a strangler with 5 victims. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m forcing you to take a lunch. Otherwise how are we going to get our five meals in?” Emily says leaning against the doorway with her arms slightly crossed.

“You’re forcing me?” Emily nods. “I guess it’s break time then. What are we doing for lunch?”

“How do you feel about sushi?” 

“Is that on our meal plan?” Emily nods with a smile.

“Remember that Japanese place we went with JJ a few times? They’ll make sushi with brown rice on request. So I figured sushi and salad with some edamame and some miso soup which meets our meal plan quite nicely.”

“Come on, let’s go.” Aaron leaves his overcoat and just takes his suit jacket. The hole in his stomach is now yelling at him that it’s ready for food. “So did Morgan ever get what our bet is out of you?”

“No. But why did you have to tell him we have a bet? He’s been hounding me all day trying to figure it out. He could have just spent the day trying to get it out of you.” Emily says as she places her hands in the pockets of her jacket as they walk down the street towards the Japanese restaurant.

“But you seem to be forgetting that I’m his boss, so he can’t stay in my office all day as I remind him that he has case files to work on.”

“Want to remind him that he has files he hasn’t worked on all morning?” Emily asks bumping shoulders with Aaron lightly. 

“Not if you’re going to attack my already wounded shoulders like that.”

“What that protein shake didn’t help?” Emily teases ever so slightly. “Maybe you need to drink it right after your workout next time.”

“We can see if that does the trick with our workout today. What are we even doing today?”

“I think it’s cardio if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Wasn’t yesterday enough cardio?” Aaron whines ever so slightly.

“Yesterday was just the fitness test. That wasn’t even the start of cardio.” Emily says with a roll of her eyes. “You’ll be fine.”

“Sure. Sure.” Aaron says as he opens the door for her. They’re seated fairly quickly since they’ve taken a later lunch than most normal people. Emily orders for them to make sure it fits their meal plan. While they wait for food, an easy conversation flows between them about everything from work to their colleagues to Jack to their plans for possible free days if they don’t have to work this weekend. Their conversation rolls through as they eat and then as they pay their bill and make their way back to the office. “How much you want to bet no one is working?”

“Why make a bet I know I’ll win?” Emily replies back with a smile.

“Because I left the office?”

“No because I did.” She teases easily. “You know we’ll walk into Morgan teasing Reid, or Reid spouting off some fact to JJ or Garcia coming in to share some ‘quick’ fact with JJ or Reid and staying for hours while a test runs. And they won’t even bother to run when you get back.”

“But when they see you they will?”

“You said it, not me.” She flashes the smile that Aaron loves seeing plastered across her face. “How late are you planning on staying today?”

“If we don’t get called away, then no later than five. I want to get out of here, work out, and still be able to get food on the table for Jack by six thirty.”

“Perfect. I’ll wrap it up by then.”

“Do you have to run home?” Emily shakes her head.

“I brought workout gear so that if we worked out at your house I wasn’t delaying Jack’s routine.” Emily admits. It’s one of the many things he loves about her. That she takes into consideration other people’s schedules when planning for things and not just her own.

“Perfect, then you want to just follow me?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Emily says. But before the elevator dings to the sixth floor, Aaron speaks again.

“I bet it’s Morgan distracting everyone else. Trying to figure out what our bet is.”

“I’ll take that bet. I bet it’s Spence sharing some fact or doing some physics magic.” Emily looks at the numbers flicking from four to five before speaking again. “Ten bucks?”

“Deal.” The elevator doors ping open and they walk towards the bullpen. When they walk in they look for their profilers to see who is distracting the others. 

“To be factually honest, you have to take into account the fact that both Cinderella and Tiana are both nineteen in their movies. So technically it’s a tie.” Spencer’s voice is preaching to the group of profilers at his desk.

“Was that ever actually stated in Cinderella or The Princess and the Frog?” JJ asks.

“I’ll take my winnings.” Emily says holding a hand out to Aaron. Morgan’s face is pulled from the conversation in front of him. 

“No way was this your bet. That had nothing to do with protein powder.” Aaron and Emily don’t reply as Aaron pulls a ten dollar bill from his wallet and places it in Emily’s hand.

“Double or nothing by the end of the day, I’m right.” Aaron says to Emily. 

“No way. I know that in point five seconds he will be on my case.” Emily says as she shrugs out of her jacket. “Go work. I have cases to get through and one distraction is enough.” Aaron can’t help but roll his own eyes as he makes his way towards his office. He shuts the door behind him, hoping to keep the distractions down in the bullpen so he can finish his work on time too.

Distractions and cases both stay outside his door. By the time five o’clock rolls around, he’s actually ready to head out. He looks out the window and sees Emily packing up her stuff too. Picking up all of the things he brought into the office this morning, he gets ready to leave his office for the night. Walking down the stairs, he stops by Emily’s desk. “Ready to head out?”

“Sure.” She slides her arms into her jacket and picks up her bag.

“Sergio isn’t going to mind that you’re getting home late?”

“I filled his bowl this morning and I’ll grovel to him by filling it before I hop in the shower after our workout.” Emily says while they walk to the elevator.

“I’d offer you could ride with me-” Aaron starts, but Emily interrupts him.

“My apartment is the complete other direction from where feeding Jack takes place.” The words leave her lips as they curl into a smile. “Feeding Jack happens to be very important so I completely understand.” She opens the door to her car and sets her bag down. “I’ll just follow you.”

“Ok.” He still feels like he isn’t living up to be the gentleman that his mother raised him to be, but her joking words do help heal his wounds ever so slightly. Opening his own door to set his own bags, Aaron feels the soreness in his arms from trying to beat Emily yesterday. That soreness isn’t going to go away with another workout happening in less than twenty-five minutes. While turning onto familiar streets, he falls into the pattern of driving home. The radio fills the background of his ride, but he barely listens to most of it. Instead, he tries to keep his eyes on the road instead of lingering too long on the black four door behind him, and more importantly, the driver of that car. All too soon the drive is over and he’s pulling into his driveway.

“Daddy!” Jack’s voice comes running from the front door.

“Hi buddy.” Jack’s head turns to see Emily’s car pull in behind Aaron’s. He doesn’t even ask who it is before she steps out of the car.

“Miss Emily! Daddy didn’t say you were coming over!” Jack sprints over to hug one of his favorite FBI family members.

“Probably because we didn’t decide until this morning.” She explains as she hugs him back. 

“Did you come to have dinner with us?”

“Actually your dad and I are going to do a workout together.”

“Like playing soccer together?” Jack questions.

“Sort of, but a little different.” Aaron answers as he pulls the Target bag out of the trunk. “Jack, can you take this into the kitchen for me?”

“Sure Daddy!” Jack carefully lifts the bag into his hands before walking inside the house. Emily and Aaron both grab go bags into their hands while Aaron also grabs his briefcase and his overcoat. Emily follows Aaron into the house.

“There’s a bathroom here you can use to change. I have to check in with Jessica and then go change.” Aaron explains quickly. Emily nods before turning into the bathroom to change. Today she had a purple sports bra, a gray tank top that reads ‘I Run Better Than The Government’, a pair of black compression shorts, and her faithful sneakers. It doesn’t take her long to get changed. But by the time she gets out, the only Hotchner she finds waiting for her is Jack.

“Miss Emily, can I read to you?” Jack looks up at her with wide eyes that mimic the ones she’s seen on her best friend a number of times. Emily sets her gym bag down on the floor and sits on the couch next to Jack.

“Sure you can. Is this for school?” His blond head nods. “What book did you want to read?” He shows her the cover of the book that she’s never seen before. “I’ve never read that. Full steam ahead Captain Jack.” And that’s the sight that Aaron comes out to- his son practicing his reading to the girl that he’s slowly but surely falling in love with. Working out can wait til Jack is finished. Because he can’t take his eyes off this sight. That and the fact that his muscles are protesting the idea of working out again so soon. As soon as the last page turns, Jack hops up from the couch.

“Thanks Miss Emily!” He says quickly before running off to his room.

“Guess it’s time to work out.” Emily says as she stands from the couch.

“And here I was hoping that distraction would work.” Aaron reads Emily’s shirt. “Seeing as you work for the government, is that really the mindset you want to have?”

“I’ve had it since you worked for my parents, so I wasn’t an employee at the time.” Emily says with a smirk. “But maybe I should wear it to the next fitness exam.”

“See if you pass.” Aaron says as she pulls out her laptop.

“Ready?”

“No.” Aaron answers honestly, “But let's get this over with.” Emily hits play and the opening montage of Insanity starts to play.

“Yo, What’s up…” The instructor starts talking, but Aaron’s eye catches on one little thing.

“41 minutes?” The countdown clock keeps ticking. “You said thirty minutes.”

“Opps. Too late to turn back now Hotch. We’ve already hit play.” Emily says as they start the warm up period and even get into the first few moves. “You can always give up.... on the bet if it’s too.... much for you.”

“I’m not… a… quitter.” Aaron says in between breaths. Eventually even their jokes stop as they get into the moves and it starts taxing on their bodies. There’s a reason this is called Insanity. Because the training is INSANE. But before the pair knows it, they’re on the stretching and the workout is over. They made it through the first full workout and no one died. At least not yet any way. Aaron does find himself on the floor again, but this time Emily joins him. Both of the pair are covered in sweat and their muscles feel like shriveling up after all that work. “You have to stay alive.” Aaron reminds Emily.

“Wasn’t planning on dying, but why?”

“You promised to take Jack.”

“That was a killer workout, but I think you’re being a bit over dramatic.” Emily says before adding, “Drink some more protein. I think your brain is lacking.”

“Daddy! Miss Emily! Are you ok?” Jack's voice is filled with concern as he sees both of them on the floor.

“We’re ok buddy.” Aaron forces his aching body into a seated position to reassure his son. “Just tired from our workout.”

“I think you need a shower Daddy.”

“I think so too Jack. Can you play quietly while I do?” Jack nods.

“I guess that’s my clue to head out.” Emily says, stretching once more before sitting up.

“You don’t have to, but there’s only one shower.” Aaron says apologetically.

“It’s ok. Sergio will be expecting me.”

“Who’s Sergio? Is he your son?” Jack asks.

“Sergio is my cat.” Emily explains to the younger Hotchner.

“Can I meet him?”

“One day, if your dad is cool with it.” Emily says, leaving the decision up to Aaron.

“I think we can visit Emily’s apartment to meet Sergio, but right now she needs to get home to feed him.” Aaron follows Emily to the door. 

“Even though the workouts suck, I’m glad I have you to do it with me Hotch.” Emily throws an arm around him and gives him a sweaty hug. “This would totally suck if I was doing it on my own.”

“I would have quit if I was doing it alone.” Aaron admits.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye Emily.”

“Bye Jack.” She calls over his shoulder and she gets a loud goodbye in response before leaving the Hotchner apartment.


	3. Day Three

Emily hits snooze for the fourth time, her body aching and longing to stay in bed. Sergio circles the empty space next to her, meowing his question of where his food is. She can’t hit snooze much longer if she wants time to get ready, eat, and be on time to the office. But her body is just lacking the energy and the desire to leave the comfort of her bed. It’s not that she doesn’t want to go to work- quite the opposite actually. She loves her job and her coworkers. She loves the feeling that she’s contributing something to the world. Plus once she’s at work, she knows that Hotch will probably say he’s feeling similarly, if not worse. But her mind also knows getting out of bed means one step closer to the next workout.

_ No excuses Prentiss, _ she tells herself before pushing the duvet off and turning out of her bed. Sergio comes over to her side and curls into her. Love me, his actions say. “Morning Serge.” She pulls the dark cat into her arms and holds him close as they walk into the kitchen. He needs food and she needs coffee- or well a shake with coffee. Setting Sergio on the ground, she grabs a can of wet food and opens it into his bowl. Then she sets off to make her shake. Figuring she can drink it while she works on putting on her makeup, she brings the shaker into the bathroom with her. However her phone goes off as she starts to put on her eyeliner and JJ’s face pops up. Not a total surprise for this time in the morning, but she picks up. “Hey JJ.”

“Do you know what Henry did?” Her blonde friend’s voice fills her ear without any preemptive good morning.

“What?” Emily tries to not smear liner where it shouldn’t be.

“He got his hands on a sharpie and colored on the walls.”

“Not the ones you-”

“Yes the ones I just got painted.” JJ’s voice is filled with the anger she must be feeling. “I know he’s only four, but he shouldn’t color on the walls period.”

“Luckily it’s just the walls. They can be repainted.” Emily reassures her friend. “It could have been worse. He could have gotten it all over him or the furniture.”

“Getting it all over him wouldn’t have cost me money though.” JJ’s anguish fills her voice.

“True, but he would have been covered in sharpie for days.” Emily reminds her friend.

“I guess you’re right.” JJ lets out a harsh breath. “I’ll just tell Will we have to repaint them… again.”

“He’ll do it for you.” Emily switches to putting on mascara.

“There was something else I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

“What’s up?”

“What's this bet that Morgan’s been trying to figure out?” JJ’s voice has a smile through it, thinking she’ll get the answer out of Emily.

“It’s honestly nothing. Morgan’s just trying to get out of doing casework.” Emily dismisses the question as she starts to fill her eyebrows.

“You know, non-answers sound like you’re trying to hide something Emily.” She rolls her eyes at one of her oldest friends.

“I need to finish getting ready. Did you need anything else?”

“Go get ready. Just know we’re all going to figure out what the bet is.”

“Bye JJ.” Emily rolls her eyes again as she hangs up the phone. She shoots a text to Hotch.

**JJ is asking about our bet**

**now too thanks to Morgan**

**Just say what bet?**

**Like that will work**

**Lying to profilers**

**You never know it**

**might be believable**

**If you think that’s believable,**

**maybe I should ask for a raise**

**that seems believable too**

**So maybe it’s not believable**

**That's what I thought**

Tossing her phone on her bed, she turns towards her closet to decide what to wear. Her body screams sweatpants at her, but in the end she decides on a light weight pink sweater since it’s comfy and comfy is what she wants right now. She pairs this with a pair of black slacks and her favorite black boots. Before walking out of her closet, she grabs some workout clothes to add to her go bag and now she’s basically ready to go. She does have half her shake left, so she’ll just have to bring that with her and finish it in the car. 

“Bye Sergio.” She reaches down and scratches him behind the ears before lifting her go bag onto her shoulder. She takes another sip of her shake before walking out of her apartment door. Turning down the hallway towards where her car is parked, she notes that thankfully all the snow is finally melted and she won’t miss it. Not having to scrape her Taurus in the morning saves her time and saves her aching arms.

The sounds of Nirvana’s Nevermind, The Beatles’ Abbey Road, and Queen’s A Night At The Opera are just some of the albums that fill her ride on the way into Quantico and Emily finds herself singing along with her favorites on the albums. She pulls into one of the spots in the parking structure as she finishes her shaker. Shoving it in her go bag so she can rinse it inside the BAU, Emily grabs her bags before making her way towards the entrance to the FBI building. All is quiet and calm as she rides to the sixth floor. She clicks through emails on her phone as the lift rises and she looks over the contents to see if there’s any fires that need to be put out as soon as she gets to her desk. Seeing nothing too drastic, she steps off when the doors open on the sixth floor and walks to her desk.

“Good morning Emily.” Aaron’s voice greets her ears as she sets her bags down.

“Morning Hotch.” Seeing a shaker bottle in his hands she knows where he’s heading, so she grabs her own to rinse out.

“Already had your shake?” Emily nods. “And here I thought we could be blender buddies.”

“That sounds like something Garcia would coin, not you.”

“What, I can’t come up with fun nicknames?” Aaron teases as he makes his shake and she rinses hers out.

“It just sounds… different than your normal verbiage.”

“I don’t know whether to be insulted or not.”

“I meant it as a compliment Hotch.” Emily reassures him.

“Oh, now you both have shaker bottles.” Morgan’s voice comes from behind them.

“All yours to deal with Hotch.” Emily laughs before turning to walk back to her desk.

Aaron thinks Derek Morgan is a great agent. However, he keeps interrupting his moments with Emily. And that is slowly pissing him off. So much so that he’s barely listening to the words that leave Morgan’s lips until he hears her name. “So I asked Emily about it all day yesterday-”

“And what did she say?” Aaron interrupts Morgan’s thought process.

“She didn’t say much of anything.”

“Hmm.” Aaron doesn’t add anything before starting back towards his own office. He knows he only has about half an hour until his meeting with Strauss anyway so he needs to get some work done before he’s trapped with her for however long the meeting goes for.

“Whoa, Hotch hold on. I’ve got more questions.”

“Morgan, I’ve got work to finish before a meeting with Strauss. And seeing how few case files I got from you yesterday, I think you probably have some work to do as well.” Clearly Morgan was harassing him and Emily about their bet so if he has to live up to his hard ass livelihood to let her get her work done too, he will.

“Ok, I’ll have them to you by this afternoon.” Morgan’s eyebrows fly together in confusion at the change in the flow of the conversation. Aaron turns to walk past the bullpen on his way to his office but as he does he sees JJ sitting on the edge of Reid’s desk, but talking, or rather distracting Emily.

“Come on Em, you and Hotch don’t make bets. So-”

“JJ, do you have those cases I sent you the other day?” JJ’s blue eyes find Hotch’s brown ones. “The cities are waiting on decisions and profiles from us.”

“Right, I know. I’m almost done with them.” The words fly out of her mouth in defense of her actions.

“I need them by this afternoon.”

“Sure Hotch.” Her eyes stay on Hotch as he continues up to his office before turning back to Emily. “What was that about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the fact that he’s never once gotten on me about the amount of time it takes me to deal with cases so why is he now?” JJ asks the person who’s his best friend.

“Strauss is probably coming down on him or something.” Emily shrugs. “I have no idea.”

“Guess I’ll go finish them up. But don’t think this will get you out of this discussion Emily. I’ll sick Pen on you if I have to.”

“Never doubted it.” Emily says as her friend walks away from her.

**Thank you.**

**Honestly they should be working**

**anyway. You don’t have to thank**

**me for doing my job**

**They’re not going to give**

**up**

**JJ threatened to sick Garcia**

**on me**

**I’ll save you still**

**I’m still her boss too**

Emily laughs at that text before getting back to work. The afternoon passes quickly for both Aaron and Emily though they see very little of each other. Aaron gets pulled from one meeting to another to another while Emily works through case file after case file as well as purging though her email inbox. By the time five o’clock rolls around, both are exhausted and ready to leave the office. However it’s only possible for Emily to leave. Aaron is still trapped in a meeting that feels like it will never end. Emily glances at Aaron’s closed door trying to figure whether to wait for him or not.

“He’s not going to get out of here anytime soon.” Dave’s voice comes from behind her.

“Hmmm?”

“Aaron. With Strauss, Walton, and Brubecker in there, it’ll be at least another forty-five minutes if not longer.” Dave raises an eyebrow. “Did you need him for something?” So Dave wants to know the bet too? Well two can play this game.

“Just have case files to give him.” Emily holds up a stack of files.

“I can give them to him. I’m not heading out anytime soon. Need me to pass along any messages?” Dave flashes a smile at the younger agent as he asks.

“No? Why would I?”

“I don’t know. You tell me Emily.” Emily just shakes her head as she collects her things.

“Bye Dave.”

**Apparently Dave is trying to figure**

**out our bet too. Even offered to**

**take my case files to you to try**

**and figure out. I’m heading**

**home but if you want me to**

**come over when you’re done with**

**your meeting let me know**

**Of course Dave wants to know.**

**He’s super nosy.**

**I’ll come over. Jess said she can**

**feed Jack if I’m not home @630**

As Emily sits with her book in hand, her mind keeps wandering back to the team trying to figure out their bet. It’s not that doing Insanity is that big of a deal. The team would support them and, like Hotch said, Morgan would probably join in. Part of her doesn’t want to tell the team for the selfish reason that she wants this to be between Hotch and her. She wants to have something special between her best friend and her. But there’s another smaller part that doesn’t want to share the actual bet part with the team for a different reason. For Emily, the idea of the team learning that Emily and Hotch had bet taking the other out to dinner would equal more teasing than anything else, right?

The other thing that also keeps running through her mind is Hotch’s offer of “as friends, as more”. What could he have meant by that? They’re friends, best friends she’d even say, so why would he offer an “as more” option? Does he see them as becoming more than just friends? Does he want them to be more than just friends? Does she want that?

Before she can answer that, there’s a knocking on the door- a couple quick rapts. She slides the bookmark back into her book and stands to open the door, knowing it has to be Hotch. “Hey.”

“Hey, sorry it took so long. You know how Strauss is on her own, but add Walton and Brubecker and it just drags on and on and on.” Hotch’s voice shoots out of his mouth, trying to explain why he’s so late, it already being almost seven.

“It’s ok. I knew it might be a little bit.”

“Yeah but this wasn’t just a little bit.” Hotch’s hand drags over where his five o’clock shadow has already set in. “Everytime I thought they were wrapping up, one of them would go off on a tangent about something we didn’t need to go over.”

“It’s fine Hotch really. Literally my only plans for the night are workout before hanging out with Sergio and keep working on my book if I don’t pass out from sore muscles before hand.”

“Thank god. I thought you were totally fine now and I was the loser who was still sore.”

“No,” Emily can’t help but laugh. “I think we’re going to be sore for a while.” Emily looks around for her laptop before remembering it was in her office charging. “You want to change in the bathroom while I get my laptop?”

“Sure. Sooner we do this, the sooner it will be over.” Aaron says before walking towards her bathroom. Emily walks into her office and grabs her computer off the charging station. Walking back out into the living room, she sets up the laptop and pulls up the Cardio Power and Resistance workout that they needed to do today. Cardio is one of the last things she wants to do with how sore she feels, but she agrees with Aaron’s sentiment- the sooner they do the workout, the sooner it will be over. “What’s the workout today?”

“Cardio Power and Resistance.”

“How is that different from what we did yesterday?” Aaron asks, not understanding who named these programs.

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Emily says as she hits play to start the familiar montage. They roll into the warm up, stretching, and then the actual moves. The sweat is dripping down their faces sooner than they remember it dripping the day before. But they power through it and before they know it, they’re at the cool down and are stretching once more.

“That wasn’t any easier.” Aaron says as he tries to catch his breath.

“If it was easy everyone would be doing it.” Emily reminds him.

“Next time we make a bet to work out, can you pick an easier workout?”

“I doubt it will be as effective.” Emily says reaching for the water bottle that’s sitting on the coaster on her table. She chugs down some of the water and immediately regrets her decision. She turns and sprints out of the room towards the bathroom as the water comes back up her throat.

“Emily?” She hears Aaron calling her name from the other room. “Are you ok?” He’s suddenly standing in her bathroom with her.

“Fine. I was just an idiot.” She flushes the toilet with her foot before turning to face him. “‘Scuse me.” He moves to the side so she can rinse her mouth in the sink.

“Work out too hard?” She shakes her head before spitting the water out.

“I chugged the water. I should have sipped it.” She lifts another cupful of water to her mouth. “Honestly Hotch, I’m fine.” His eyes are watching her like he’s not convinced it’s not something more. “Too much water too fast. That’s all.”

“Or you pushed yourself too hard and you shouldn’t be alone in case you get worse.”

“You need to get home to Jack.”

“I’ll call Jess and she can stay with him.”

“You need to go home and shower.” He doesn’t even dignify her with an answer but instead holds a hand up as he motions to her shower. “How about the fact that I only have one bed in my house since my guest room is my office? You going to crash on my couch?”

“Can best friends not share a bed?” Aaron asks, even though he knows he’s probably encroaching on her personal space.

“Hotch really I’m fine.” She ignores the question and instead tries to reassure him that she doesn’t need him to stay. They shouldn’t be sharing a bed with the questions that were running through her head before he came over tonight. That’s a bad idea waiting to happen.

“Emily, what kind of boss, no what kind of best friend would I be if I abandoned you when you’re possibly sick?”

“Aaron, I swear. I’m not sick. I literally just drank some water too fast after working out.” The use of his first name isn’t lost on him, but he knows he will do whatever he has to to keep hearing her say it. “I’m fine. I’ll even text you that I’m fine for the rest of the night if it makes you feel better.”

“But seeing as I know you to walk out of a hospital when you actually need it, who’s to say that you won’t just say that you’re fine.”

“You’re just not going to give up are you?” Aaron shakes his head.

“Fine, but I’m showering first.”

“Deal.”


	4. Day Four

Before he even opens his eyes, the smell of Emily invades his senses. She surrounds his thoughts and he doesn’t want to wake from this dream. It feels all too real and he wants to stay in this dream land for as long as possible. So instead of trying to wake up, he tries to fall back into dreamland, and hopefully, Jack will stop hitting his feet so he can keep sleeping.

“Jack, buddy, five more minutes. Please.” He mumbles towards the foot of the bed not opening his eyes.

“I think that’s actually Sergio, not Jack.” The voice of his dreams invades his ears but it’s not coming from inside his head. There’s movement from the otherside of the bed as the voice calls out again, “Serge, dude, Hotch’s feet aren’t a toy.” The pressure on his feet is lifted. Aaron opens his eyes and takes in the sight of the room that definitely isn’t his. He slept in Emily’s bed last night. Sure it was in the purest form of that word, but still, he spent the night with Emily Prentiss. He doesn’t even notice the sore muscles as he turns over to see Emily cuddling her cat next to him.

“He seems to love you.” Emily’s hand curls up to scratch behind his ears.

“That’s only because it’s not breakfast time yet and it’s not late. That’s when he becomes Grumpy Cat.” She emits the tiniest giggle at this thought and Hotch takes in the picture of Emily in the morning, no makeup, just her natural beauty. Sure he had imagined what it would be like to wake up next to Emily hundreds, maybe thousands of times, but nothing lived up to the actual image. “What?” Emily asks, trying to figure out what Hotch is staring at. “My hair a mess?” She reaches her other hand to smooth out her hair that looks fine the way it is and Aaron wants to just pull her hand into his and never let it go.

“You’re fine Emily. I’m just not awake yet.” He raises a palm to rub at the sleep in his eye. “What time is it?” Emily glances at the phone next to her bed that hasn’t gone off yet.

“Quarter after five. We still have some time to sleep.”

“Or we knock out our workout before our bodies realize what we’re doing.” Aaron can’t believe he’s suggesting it, but it would feel good to not have to worry about it the rest of the day. Emily looks over at him with concern radiating off her face. Now it’s Aaron’s turn to ask, “What?”

“Who are you and what have you done with Aaron Hotchner?”

“We don’t have to Em,” The nickname slips out of tired lips before he can even think of stopping it. “I just thought maybe not dreading it all day would be nice.”

“I’m not disagreeing, but I’m just surprised to hear the suggestion coming from you.” Emily teases back at him. “Usually you’re the one suggesting we skip our workouts or sending your son in as sabotage.”

“I didn’t send Jack in that time.” Aaron pulls his arm under his head as he looks at Emily. “He did that of his own volition.” 

“We’ll he’s cute, so it’s allowed.”

“Are you saying I’m not allowed to distract you or that I’m not cute?” Aaron asks with mock sadness on his face, but truly wanting to know the answer.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Emily says, the flirtation filling her voice on it’s own accord. Emily opens the door to her closet and walks in to get some workout clothes. Aaron follows her out of bed and peeks into her clothing haven.

“Wow, this feels like when I saw Garcia’s work space for the first time. I feel like I’m being allowed to see a secret place. Now I see why you have so many pairs of shoes. There’s so much space here.” He motions towards the racks that are overflowing with boots of different heights and colors. Emily turns around and throws the sock ball in her hand at him. 

“I don’t make fun of you in your house.”

“Not making fun, just making observations.” Aaron points out as he raises his hands in a ‘I surrender’ motion. Emily ignores his remark as she pulls a tank and a pair of shorts out of her drawer. Light blue tank and black shorts are all he can see. He knows he needs to go get clothing out of his go bag, but he doesn’t want to leave behind the domesticated sight in front of him.

“Hotch, you’re staring. It’s kind of creepy.” Emily reaches for a pair of sneakers as she says the words.

“Sorry. I’ll go get clothes.” He walks out of the bedroom and into the living room where his go bag is. He had put some workout clothes in yesterday in case they got called away. Little did he know the only called away that would happen was getting called away to Emily’s house. Could he have left her last night, probably, but he feels better knowing she wasn’t on her own last night in case it had been a stomach bug.

“You can take the bathroom. I’ll change in here.” Emily’s voice calls out before shutting her bedroom door. Making his way into the bathroom, his eyes take in everything that Emily has placed to make the room very her as he changes. The fake plants that won’t die while she travels but also won’t kill Sergio, the dark blue towels and curtains, the art hanging on the walls. It’s all pieces that had someone shown him without telling him it was from Emily’s apartment, he probably would have guessed it was hers.

Walking out of the bathroom, he sees Emily booting up her laptop. “Cardio recovery? That can’t be too bad right?”

“I don’t think this came with easy workouts so I would say it’s still going to suck.” Aaron says as Emily stands up and turns around. It’s the first time he can take in the words on her tank top and he almost laughs at how Emily they are. ‘Does Running Out Of Fucks Count As Cardio?’

“What?” She can see his amused face, but doubts it’s about their workout.

“Your shirt. It’s very… well you.”

“Well thanks. Pen saw it and figured I needed it.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t get a matching one for Morgan.”

“If Morgan ever showed up in this shirt, I would literally lose my shit.” Emily says before letting out a laugh.

“If Morgan shows up in a women’s workout tank, I might sit him down and see where his head is at.” Aaron says in all seriousness. There’s nothing wrong with wearing what you want, but for Morgan it would be a little bit out of the norm.

“I would expect nothing less from you.” Emily says as she crouches down to hit play. “You ready?” 

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Aaron admits. The familiar intro starts before rolling into the montage that they’re getting used to. Warmup, stretching, and starting some familiar moves, followed by some new ones, it’s a routine their bodies are getting used to ever so slightly. The moves aren’t getting easier yet, but Aaron and Emily can both feel that their bodies are less sore than yesterday. And the sweat dripping down their faces feels good compared to the first day where it just felt like death. Before they know it, they’re at the cool down and stretch portion of the program as they wrap up the fourth day of exercise. “It’s over.” Aaron says as he lays on the floor.

“Thank God.” Emily follows suit as she flops on the floor next to him. Her hardwood floor isn’t the most comfortable, but after the workout that they just finished, not standing up feels good. “Is this just going to be our finishing pose?” Emily teases from the floor.

“Well it’s better than how you finished the workout yesterday.” Aaron points out and Emily nods.

“That’s true.” She hadn’t thrown up since that one mistake last night. “You would have been fine to go home last night Hotch.”

“But then we wouldn’t have gotten our workout done already.” Aaron tacks on as he continues to stretch out his shoulders 

“Not saying you’re wrong, but I’m just saying that I was right that I wasn’t sick.” Emily boasts. She sits up and looks over at the man who just changed his whole evening of plans to stay with her because he thought she could be sick. That’s not just something that anyone will do. Her mind is still running through so many different possibilities to the questions that have been floating around her mind regarding her relationship to Hotch, but this definitely is tilting the scales towards one side’s argument. Pulling herself from her own mind she says quickly, “I’m going to hop in the shower. Do you want coffee or a shake or both before I go?” Emily asks.

“I’ll take some water.” Aaron says, realizing how thirsty he was, but realizing it wasn’t water he was thirsted for as the images of Emily going to shower fill his brain at their own accord. He tries to shake the idea of his best friend and subordinate out of his mind as Emily reaches into her fridge for some water.

“Sip, don’t chug.” Emily says as she passes the bottle to him.

“I know, I know. I don’t want to repeat your actions.” Emily sticks her tongue out at the man who stands in the space between her kitchen and living room and is slowly worming his way into her heart as well. She needs to get some space, get some perspective.

“If you want anything food wise, feel free. I’m going to take a shower.” Emily says before retreating into the bathroom. As she closes the door, she takes a deep breath. Aaron and her have a good thing between them for a while. So why mess with it? Why bring feelings beyond friendship into it? But her heart points out that those feelings wouldn’t be much different than what’s already there.

Aaron decides while Emily is literally on the other side of the wall  _ showering _ , he needs to distract himself. Easiest distraction- food. Hopefully, she’s gone grocery shopping and there’s something he can make for breakfast. Looking through her fridge, there’s mainly bare essentials of food, but he manages to find some eggs, mushrooms, and onion. This will work. It’ll either be an omelette, or it will turn into scrambled eggs. The sound of water fills the apartment as he starts cooking up breakfast for both of them. Not only does it fill his ears, but it fills his mind with images he shouldn’t be thinking about. He may be feeling one way about her, but he needs to respect the fact that she hasn’t said anything about feeling the same way. He needs to respect that she may never feel the way he does. He takes the first omelette off the stove and starts on a second. While it cooks, he takes a bite of the omelette to check the seasoning. He adds a bit of pepper to the one in the pan. As he’s taking it out of the pan, he hears the water shut off. The door to the bathroom opens up and he can hear footsteps creaking along the hardwood. 

“Hey Em-” His words cut off as he turns the corner and sees her walking towards the bedroom wrapped only in a towel.  _ Eyes up Hotchner! _ His own mind reprimands him while also tempting him to look over the vast amounts of skin that are on view to anyone in the apartment, which happens to only be him. His eyes do catch a mark he hadn’t been able to see the other day when they took their pictures. A shamrock that’s been carved- no branded- into the skin on the left side of her chest. Subconsciously, Emily pulls at the towel wrapped around her. She had been hoping Aaron would be in the kitchen. She’s dripping water on her floors, in a towel, in front of her boss, who seems to be focused on something- oh shit. Her hand flies up to cover the shamrock of shame on her chest. “I-I uh was just going to tell you that breakfast is on the table.”

“Thanks.” She turns and walks as fast as she can without slipping into her bedroom. Clearly, the only thing on the menu this morning was awkward moments. She hadn’t shown anyone the mark that Doyle had left. The scar across her stomach was one thing since it had been part of the surgery that was needed to save her life. But the brand was something else. It’s been a part of her for so long now that she no longer flinches at it in the mirror and most days she can forget it’s there. But to have someone else see it and be so utterly disgusted with it- that’s a completely different story. Emily throws on another sweater, this one with a high neckline, before adding a pair of tight jeans, and a pair of black boots. If she could feed Sergio and get her food down while Aaron’s in the shower, she might be able to say she has to run an errand before work. Anything to avoid having to talk to Aaron. 

Listening for the sound of water, she makes her way into the kitchen knowing it would be safe. Putting food into Sergio’s bowl, she knows it probably won’t be touched until later. Sitting at the table is an omelette and she almost hates the fact that she’s trying to sneak out of her own house. Almost.

Aaron comes out of the bathroom fully clothed and it makes it easier for her. “Emi-”

“Awesome you’re done. Breakfast was great. I realized I have to go get food for Sergio before work.” Emily rambles through the list of things on her mind before Aaron has a chance to say anything otherwise.

“Oh.” Aaron could have sworn he saw a whole pallet of Sergio’s food in her pantry when he went looking for seasoning. But clearly, she’s embarrassed or upset that he saw her in a towel, so he won’t fight her on it. “Ok, well I’ll head to the office I guess.” It’s still a little early for his normal time to head in, but heading home just means that by the time he pulls into the driveway it would be time to head to work. “I’ll see you there Emily.”

“Yeah. See you.” Her words are short and cold compared to everything that has happened in the past few days. Hopefully they can fix this at work.


	5. Day Five

Maybe they could have fixed the awkwardness between them if Emily was talking to him. He could count on one hand the number of words she said to him at the office yesterday. And so far, today didn’t look like it was going to be any different. Clearly he had upset her, but seeing her in a towel? Did that really call for the silent treatment? He looks towards the agent in questions desk but doesn’t see her. Honestly, besides seeing her come in this morning, he can’t recall seeing her at her desk all morning, which means she’s probably working, or well hiding in JJ’s office or Garcia’s lair. 

Placing the file he’s been staring at but not really working on down, he steps out of his office. He decides to check JJ’s office, betting that this would be her number one hiding spot. Upon entering her office, there is the brunette in question, buried in her own files and utilizing her laptop that they’ve used many times to workout with. 

“Hey Hotch. Did you need something?” JJ asks, noticing their unit chief before Emily does. 

“Actually I was looking for Emily. Wanted to get her opinion on a case file.” He doesn’t miss how her body flinches at him saying her name. Emily might not have told JJ what happened, but clearly she knew enough to step between them. 

“Bring it here, we can both help.” She offers with a smile.

“It’s fine. I think it’s more up Emily’s line. I don’t want to pull you from your work JJ.” The two females lock eyes and a lot goes unsaid. He knows this probably isn’t the best way to go about this but he needs to get Emily on her own to talk to her. 

“I’ll be back.” Emily says to the blonde as she moves the case files and laptop to the chair she’s sitting on. She follows Aaron out of the door, but the tension is palpable between them. 

“How was the rest of your day yesterday?” Aaron tries making small talk.

“Fine.” 

“Jack asked about you last night. Wanted to know if you were feeling better.” Apparently this wasn’t the right thing to ask either as Emily just crosses her arms and says nothing in response. So bringing up yesterday makes her shut down, but he needs to talk to her. She’s his best friend, and he needs to fix this so she stays his best friend.

The silence follows them into Aaron’s office. He sits at his desk while Emily chooses to remain standing, her entire pose showing how uncomfortable she is to be in a room with him right now. “Where’s the file?” She cuts right to the chase. Aaron grabs the first file off his desk, the one he couldn’t focus on when he went looking for her unsurprisingly, and hands it to her. She flips through the first few pages and reads over some of the information. “A strangulation case? That’s what you thought was my kind of case?”

“I figured you would have a fresh take on it.” He can almost feel her reading the lies radiating off of him.

“I think you’d be better off asking Rossi if you actually need the help.” She hands the case back to him. “This seems more like something he would spout off something from his old files.”

“I’ll ask him for some advice then.” Aaron doesn’t really need a second pair of eyes yet.

“Well if that’s everything.” Emily starts to turn and Aaron has to call out to stop her from leaving.

“Wait. Emily, I think we need to talk about yesterday. If I acted inappropriately or-”

“Inappropriately?” Emily’s face reads more betrayed than pissed and he’s not sure how he’s managed to yet again say the wrong thing to her. “If that’s what you want to call it, I don’t think we have anything else to say to each other.” Her arms cross firmly in front of her like she’s trying to protect herself and he’s not sure what he did wrong.

“Emily, I don’t understand.”

“Do you need anything else, sir?” The word isn’t lost on him. She hasn’t called him sir in years. It’s always been Hotch, or on the rare occasion Aaron. She’s pulling away from him and he can’t figure out what he did.

“Emily what did I do?”

“Apparently nothing. If there’s nothing else case related, I have work to do.” Emily turns towards the door and leaves without another word. Aaron slams his head into his hands. He tries to recall what happened yesterday. The only thing that comes to mind that he did was surprise her when she was coming out of the bathroom. That was the catalyst to her behavior changing, which he tried to apologize for, but she cut him off. If it wasn’t inappropriate in her mind, what was wrong?

From across the bullpen, Emily walks back into JJ’s office and looks towards her cases with disgust. “Were you able to help Hotch?”

“He was missing something right in front of his face.” Emily says as she moves her stuff to slam into her seat. JJ doesn’t miss the wording her friend uses.

“Ok clearly, something is wrong. Want to discuss it?” Her mind is screaming at her not to, but she needs another prospective.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m overreacting.” Emily says with a light shake of her head, but continues. “Hotch spent the night at my apartment the other night. And he, uh, surprised me when I was coming out of the bathroom. He saw one of the scars from the whole Doyle thing and the look on his face was filled with such disgust that he didn’t look like the person I’ve known to be my best friend.”

“That doesn’t sound like Hotch.” JJ says, concern filling the features on her face.

“Well the disgust was either towards that scar or towards me in a towel, so I’m not sure which is worse.” Emily takes a deep breath before continuing. “But when he pulled me into his office, he tried to apologize for, and I quote, ‘if he acted inappropriately’.”

“There has to be something that isn’t lining up Em. Hotch wouldn’t flinch at marks from our job because he has his own scars. There has to be something else.” Emily runs a hand through her hair.

“I don’t know. Honestly, I’d rather not think about it and just try to get through this day without having to deal with him any more than I have to.” JJ accepts that and the two females work on their files for the rest of the afternoon. As five o’clock starts to roll closer, Emily dreads the fact that she’s going to have to take her files to Aaron.

“Want me to take your files with mine?” JJ offers and in that moment, Emily knows it’s not a fellow agent standing in front of her, but a Godsend.

“Please.” Emily says as her face shows everything she’s feeling to the blonde she trusts with her life.

“Want me to give him hell while I’m at it?”

“Please?” Emily lets a small smile release from her lips.

“Of course.” JJ starts to walk out of the office as Emily packs her bags up. She hasn’t even really been at her desk all day and thanks to it being warm enough, she doesn’t need to run back for a coat. She can escape before anyone tries to rope her into staying longer.

Aaron looks up to the sound of a knock at his door. “Come in.” JJ’s standing in his doorway.

“I have mine and Emily’s finished case files.”

“Yours and Emily’s? Where’s Emily?” He’s not completely surprised that she’s avoiding him, but he had hoped she would at least bring him her files so he could attempt apologizing again.

“Probably already gone if I had to bet on it. I was heading this way so I offered to bring her files too.” JJ’s eyes, although usually showing her emotions or what she’s thinking, seem to be a colder shade of blue than Aaron is used to.

“You know why she’s mad don’t you.”

“I don’t know if mad is the right word.”

“What is?” Aaron asks, trying to get any clues into the frustrating, but brilliant brunette mind that he’s in love with.

“I think hurt would be a better word.”

“What did I do?” Aaron asks, hoping that JJ can clue him into whatever it is that he missed. But JJ remains tight lipped for a moment before saying anything.

“It’s not my place Hotch. I’m not going to betray Emily’s trust so you can have answers. If she doesn’t feel she can tell you why she’s hurting, then you’re just going to have to wait until she feels that she can tell you.” He understands where she’s coming from. They all have to be able to trust each other both in the field and outside of it. So he can’t ask her to betray Emily’s trust just because he’s hurt Emily.

“Is it fixable?” He asks, hoping that the answer is yes.

“I’d like to believe that the two of you can fix it. But don’t let her push it into one of her boxes and shove us all away.”  _ Us? _ Did he really mess up badly enough that it would push the team away? 

“Thank you JJ.”

“Bye Hotch.” He decides that he can’t stay in his office all night pondering and trying to figure out how to fix his past actions. Maybe he can see her and fix it all.

**Do you want me to come**

**over so we can work out?**

He doesn’t expect much of anything in terms of a response after how she’s treated him with such hatred all day, but his phone buzzes after only a few minutes.

**Here’s a link to the account. Emails**

**my fbi one. I’ll change the password**

**so you can access it.**

A second text comes through a few moments later.

**Password is FbiOpenUp1**

**Pure cardio is the workout**

He’s not surprised she doesn’t want him to come over, but he was hoping that their bet would at least get her to open up to him. He’s been wracking his brain all day trying to figure out what he did, and based on what JJ said to him- he’s messed up pretty bad. So he tries another attempt.

**.I’m sorry**

**I don’t know what I did Em**

**but I hurt you and for**

**that I’m sorry.**

Emily stares at the screen in front of her. It’s a very Aaron text, at least in terms of apologies go. Part of her feels bad for not queuing him into what is making her upset, but at the same time, there’s another larger part that is hurting from the memory of his face as he looked at the shamrock. It’s taken so long for her to come to terms with everything that happened that night of March 7th, 2011. But she clawed and scratched her way out of her darkest moments and she’s learned how to accept every mark on her body. And she won’t let anyone- not even someone who should be her best friend- take that away from her. She doesn’t have anything to say to him at this moment, so instead of saying anything, she sets her phone down and boots up Insanity. Might as well burn her body out of feeling anything right now.

Standing in her living room, she presses play on her laptop screen to start up the workout video. The familiar montage starts up, but it feels wrong. Doing the workout alone feels wrong. Not having Aaron with her feels wrong. She made the choice to have to go through this workout by herself, to have to push through each awful rep when she wants to quit. But having to workout next to a person she can’t stand right now wouldn’t have changed anything either. If anything, it would have made her feel like puking and this time it wouldn’t have been from chugging water too fast. She can almost picture if Aaron was next to her doing this workout, but then the look of him seeing that fucking shamrock comes back into her mind and her stomach starts to churn. She can almost feel the stomach acid bubbling up her throat. No wait she really can. For the second time in the past few days, she’s sprinting off to the bathroom. Her stomach forces out the meals she had gotten down at work today, every bit of food, until she’s dry heaving over the toilet as she hears the sound of her trainer still calling out back in the living room. This time being sick feels completely different than the other night. 

She doesn’t feel like there’s anything left in her stomach to vomit right now, so she flushes the toilet before just laying down on the cold tiles of the bathroom. Her head is pounding and she’s sweating more than she does for only being half way through the workout. She should get up and brush her teeth, but the idea of getting off the floor just makes her stomach roll again. Could she be sick for real this time? Could she have food poisoning? For a split second, her brain shouts the word pregnant at her, but she knows that that is physically not possible. You have to actually be sexually active to have a risk of being pregnant. So there is literally a negative chance of being pregnant. But the likelihood of having food poisoning or a twenty four hour bug, way higher.

The cool tiles help lower her body temp some and after agonizing minutes of laying there, she finally feels as though she can at least move without throwing up again. She decides to hop in the shower to rinse the sweat from her, but the taste in her mouth tells her that she has to brush her teeth before showering. Then she’ll head to bed. That’s the only thing that sounds good to her.

Across town, Aaron finishes his workout. It was harder than the other days so far mainly because he had done it alone. He hates this. He wants to talk to Emily. He wants to fix whatever he did. He doesn’t regret agreeing to this bet, but he wants to be able to do the workouts with her. Getting to spend that extra bit of time with her, learning more about her every day life, that is his favorite part of this so far. And knowing that he did something that messed that up pisses him off. The fact that he’s spent his entire day trying to figure out what he did wrong and the rest of it trying to figure out how to make it up to her, tells him that his friendship with her is the most important thing in his life besides Jack. So important that he’s willing to give up any chance of having more with her if it means he can ensure that he gets to have his best friend back. So important that he decides to make a phone call. “Jess, hey. Is there any way you can come watch Jack? Something work related came up. It should only take an hour or so at most.”

The car ride to Emily’s is one of the most nerve wracking of his life. He knows he will do basically anything to fix his relationship with her. But he also knows that she read his text and didn’t reply. So she may not have anything to say to him. She may not want to say anything to him. But he will do anything he can, as long as she will go back to being his best friend. 

He pulls into the guest spot for her apartment and throws his car into park. He has nothing to grab so getting out and walking the familiar path to her door takes no time at all. Once he’s there, that’s when the nerves hit him. What if she doesn’t open the door? He tries to push the thought from his mind as he raises a hand to knock once, twice, three times. Then there’s the wait as he stands in front of the door hoping that Emily will open it. He knows how long it normally takes her, even if she’s in her bedroom on the other end of the apartment, and this has already been longer than that. So he repeats his actions this time a little louder because maybe she didn’t hear him. The door is pulled open slowly and the girl standing in the doorway is nothing like the Emily who has stood in his office only hours earlier.

“Emily are you ok?”

“Hotch? What are you doing here?” The two agents speak at the same time, giving the other no time to hear the question. Aaron’s eyes search the face of his best friend. Her face is so pale and he’s honestly worried she might pass out.

“Emily, please don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t look too good.” Aaron says, reaching a hand out towards the frame of her body. She leans away from him but instead leans into the door frame. 

“I don’t feel too good.” She pushes her hair over her shoulder. “Why are you here Hotch?” Her words are sharp, even though she doesn’t feel like she should be able to have the power behind them that she does.

“I didn’t want to leave things the way we did. What happened though? You weren’t like this at work were you?” His concern for this brown eyed girl trumps the need to apologize right now. He has all the time to apologize, if she lives to that moment.

“I got sick. I think it’s a twenty four hour bug or food poisoning or something.” She says, the anger she should have had forgotten as she feels pretty cruddy from throwing up a few times now.

“When did it start?”

“Like an hour ago. I was in the middle of working out…” She trails off but then picks up and continues, “and then I started feeling like I was going to be sick.”

“Can I come in?” Aaron asks, feeling awkward standing in the hallway outside her apartment. The part of her that is yelling at her that she’s supposed to be angry is overruled by the part of her that feels horrendous and lets him inside. “Have you been able to keep anything down?” She shakes her head.

“But I haven’t tried in the past twenty minutes or so since everything kept coming back up.” Emily closes her eyes and her hand drifts to her stomach. Aaron bets that she is trying to ward off nauseous that is trying to power through her.

“Why don’t you sit down on the couch? You look really pale and I’m worried you’ll faint.” Aaron reaches a hand out towards her. But she moves towards the couch slowly, almost inching along, so that his hand doesn’t have to take hold of her. Aaron takes out his phone and shoots a text to Jess that it might take longer than he was realizing. The larger part of him wants to stay with Emily like he did the other night when she threw up, but a smaller part of him is betting that she might kick him out before he can even offer to stay. So he doesn’t ask Jess to stay overnight with Jack... yet. 

Silence weaves into the space between the dark haired agents as Emily tries to calm her stomach and Aaron looks at his best friend with worry filled eyes. Emily’s stomach calms down enough that she manages to finally bring up the question she tried to get an answer for earlier. “Why are you here?” She asks again. He looks into her eyes, confused since he thought he already answered that. “You sent an apology. If you’re trying to get off the hook or whatever, fine. You don’t have to be here right now and I don’t have the energy to deal with this.”

“Emily, you’re my best friend. I hurt you. I hate that I hurt you. I need to fix whatever I did. But to find out you’re sick on top of that… I-I feel like I need to do something.” Caramel drizzled eyes look into eyes that are dark as night as they try to convince the other about how deeply they care.

“Hotch, I can’t deal with anything else right now. I can’t even keep anything in my stomach at the moment. Can we deal with this at a different time please?”

“I didn’t know you were sick when I came over. We can talk about everything else later, but Emily I don’t think you should be alone right now.”

“I’m an adult Hotch. I’ll be fine.” A hand reaches up to wipe sweat away from her forehead as a shiver runs through her.

“Emily you’re running a fever I think. You’ve thrown up a few times. Being sick isn’t going to be fun. Let me help you at least.” Defeated, she nods.

“Fine.”


	6. Day Six

The night had been long and rough for Emily. Her stomach hadn’t been able to stay calm for most of the night hours and anything that Aaron tried to get down- water, Pedialite, Tylenol- came back up. She also couldn’t stop shivering. Finally around six am, he got some water and Tylenol in her that stayed down. So while she finally slept, he watched her for a little bit happy to see her resting. Luckily it was a Saturday, so they don’t have to go into the office today and the team isn’t on call this weekend. So Emily has a full two days to recover before having to go back to work. He had texted Jess last night and asked her to stay with Jack at least through tonight. He figures even if this is a twenty four hour bug, Emily is going to have rough twenty four hours, so he might as well try to help her as well as he can.

A smaller part of him hopes that if they’re together as she tries to get over whatever is reeking havoc on her system, she might be willing to talk to him. A larger part reminds him that she is a stubborn person and the likelihood of that is slim, but he can still hope. He wants to fix whatever it is that he did.

He wants to pull her into his arms and never let go. He wants to comfort her and try to take away the pain of being sick. But he knows that part of the pain she’s feeling is from him. So instead he decides the best bet is to sleep on the couch, but leave her bedroom door open in case she goes sprinting off to the toilet again. From being a parent to a young child, waking up to sounds in the night is something he’s gotten used to. So he looks in her hallway closet for a blanket and pillow before making his way back towards the couch. But apparently living alone has made Emily prone to waking up to noises in the night too. When Aaron hits the squeaky floorboard, her head rolls up from the pillow. 

“Where going?” Her sleep filled voice mumbles.

“Just to the couch. Go back to sleep.”

“Stay… You’ll get a crick in your neck.” She says as she lets out a shiver and pulls the duvet up towards her shoulders.

“Emily, I don’t want to make you more uncomfortable.”

“Stay.” She repeats before leaving back towards the pillow, a Tylenol induced sleep already pulling her back towards dream land. Her hand pats the empty space next to her. He places the blanket back in the closet and climbs into bed with her. He’s risking catching whatever it is that she’s fighting, but that doesn’t matter as much. She offered to let him stay in bed with her… again. That has to mean something right? A shiver runs through Emily’s body and he wishes it was him that was sick instead of her. He pulls the duvet up tighter around them, hoping that the fever will burn through her quickly. 

Closing his eyes, he tries to let sleep take over. But the sight of Emily being upset with him in his office keeps playing behind his eyes. That or the sight of her lying to him the other day when she was just trying to get him out of the apartment, this same one that she’s allowing him to say once again. He lets the images play over and over in his mind, trying to find something that would have hurt her. He just keeps seeing her walking out of the bathroom, her pulling the towel up, and then her hand going to cover the brand- if you could call it that- almost as if she was ashamed of him looking at it. Could that have something to do with it? Was she ashamed to show him that shamrock shaped mark? She had shown her own scars from the fight with Doyle with little preamble, but there’s something different about that white mark. He can’t ask her now. She’s finally sleeping and he’s not going to take that from her just to try and calm his own thoughts. It takes longer than normal, but he falls slowly into a jumbled mess of sleep.

When he wakes in the morning, he’s vaguely aware that there’s a warm pressure on his chest. Unlike the other morning when he woke up at Emily’s apartment, he remembers that he’s there. They didn’t sleep long enough for him to forget. So he knows it’s not Jack. So that can only mean… he opens his eyes just enough to peek through his lashes down at his chest. The sight he sees makes his eyes fly open though, because he needs to be able to take it in with the entirety of his sight. Emily Prentiss is asleep on his chest. Her body is curved into him. He feels her shiver ever so slightly before curling deeper into his chest. She’s still asleep and he’ll stay as still as possible if it means she stays this way. She needs as much sleep as she can get to fight this bug. 

His hand moves up to lift the hair away from her face so he can take in the view of what Emily looks like when she’s sound asleep. Her mouth is soft, in a slight curve downward, but not quite a frown. Her face is smooth and without worry lines as she sleeps in her Tylenol infused state. Without thinking, his lips dip down to place a kiss where her hair meets her forehead.

“Hmm.” A sleepy mumble escapes her mouth as a hand runs up the right side of his chest to bunch up to hold on his shirt. His breath stills to nothing, hoping that he hasn’t woken her up with his actions. But as he watches, her eyes start to flutter and then open. In the first few moments of being awake, Emily doesn’t seem to realize anything out of the ordinary about the position she’s in. Maybe she doesn’t remember what happened last night, or who is in her bed with her. Maybe she’s still partially asleep. But Aaron tries to keep his breath relatively calm as he lays there holding her in his arms. Even though he knows she’s awake, he’s not going to shove her out of his arms. Quite the opposite actually. He’s going to keep holding her until he’s not allowed to.

“Good morning.” Aaron breathes the words out, hoping not to scare her. The speaker registers with her. Her body goes almost rigid as she realizes that in her sleep, she ended up cuddling her boss who she was upset with before last night.

“Morning.” The words are no louder than a whisper. Emily might not be comfortable with their position, but she doesn’t pull away. Whether it's a feeling of just being too comfortable or she’s just feeling like it would be more awkward to pull away at this point, he’ll take the extra moments of having her in his arms.

“How are you feeling?” He asks, honestly curious on how this day is going to take her.

“Better than last night for sure.” There’s a pause before Emily continues. “My stomach doesn’t feel as nauseous as it did last night. And I don’t feel as achy.”

“Good.” Emily decides at that moment to pull away from him. Aaron’s face is painted in the confusion he is feeling.

“I shouldn’t have laid on you. I’ll probably get you sick. Sorry Hotch.”

“It’s fine. Jack’s done way worse when he’s been sick.” Aaron’s not worried about catching what she has if it means he can comfort her. But he can see Emily pulling into herself already. “Do you think your fever has come down?”

“I hope so. Usually sleeping helps to get it down when I have one.”

“Want me to grab the thermometer so you can check?” He had put it back on the counter last night when he was grabbing the Tylenol and he regrets not bringing it in the bedroom. She shakes her head.

“I’ll get it.” But Aaron objects.

“Stay. You’re the one who’s sick. I’ll get it.” Aaron pushes the duvet up and stands up, his feet touching the chilled hardwood floor. He walks through the opened door into the bathroom to grab the thermometer from the counter, before making it back to the bed where Emily lays still wrapped up in her duvet. He holds it out to her and she places it under her tongue. They sit in silence until the thermometer beeps. “What’s it say?”

“Hundred point four,” Her voice sounds disappointed that it’s not lower.

“I’ll grab you some more Tylenol and then we can see about finding you something that sounds decent for breakfast.” Aaron glances at the clock in the bathroom as he grabs the Tylenol and notes that they slept for about four hours. Hopefully Emily can take some naps to sleep off the fever through today. He hands the white pills to her and she uses the water beside her bed to take them. “Anything sound particularly good to you?” Aaron asks as he stands across from her.

“Honestly, nothing really sounds that good food wise.” She scrunches her nose and Aaron is reminded of the time that Jack had the flu last fall and didn’t want to eat.

“How about some toast? Try to get something simple down?”

“I don’t think I have any bread.” Emily pushes out of the bed as she says this and walks into her closet. She comes out a few moments later with her FBI crewneck on. She may not feel as achy as earlier, but the fever has left her body feeling as though her apartment is Antarctica.

“What about cereal? Maybe some oatmeal? Or we could make some eggs again?” Aaron offers, trying to remember what she has in her kitchen from being here the other day. Emily grimaces at the sound of both items. She walks towards the kitchen and opens the pantry door. Aaron wonders if something sounds particularly good, but instead of coming out with human food, she comes out with a can of cat food. “Em, I can get that. Sit down.” With the fact that she couldn’t keep dinner down last night and that she hasn’t eaten anything this morning, he would rather her not push it until she gets something in her system. 

“Hotch, I’m fine.” Her voice has more fire behind it than when he showed up at her door last night, so he doesn’t fight her on feeding her cat who’s meows are filling the kitchen. She bends over to fill his bowl, trying to show Aaron that she means her words, but he doesn’t miss the sway as she does it. He’s no more than a few inches behind her in case she tips too far in one direction or the other. “Seriously, you don’t need to hover.”

“You literally just swayed as you put the food in the bowl.” Emily’s face looks at him with disbelief.

“I’m fine.”

“Well let’s get something in your system before we keep testing that theory.” Aaron opens the fridge and sees what’s in there. “What sounds good to you?” Emily bends down and looks inside. 

“Nothing.” Emily crosses her arms in front of her stomach. “Actually…”

“What?”

“I don’t have what sounds good.” Emily’s voice turns into a whine. 

“Well what is it?”

“Applesauce.” 

“I can go get you some.” Aaron grabs his keys off the table in front of them.

“You don’t have to do that. You already have done enough.” Emily rocks on her feet. “Too much if we’re being honest.” 

“Emily, I don’t mind, honestly. It will take less than ten minutes.”

It actually took him thirteen minutes to run to the closest store, find applesauce, and get back. When he gets back, Emily is sitting on the couch with Sergio in her lap. 

The rest of the afternoon the two friends sit on the couch and watch reruns of The Office. The comedy allows them to not focus on the awkwardness between them. Emily’s fever slowly comes down as they watch the shenanigans play out on the screen in front of them between Dwight and Jim as they prank each other. 

As the credits roll on the episode they were watching, Aaron feels the need to address the elephant in the room. “Emily, can I ask you something?”

“I guess so.” Her eyes turn from the screen to reside on the man sitting on the other end of her couch. 

“Are you mad at me because I saw the shamrock?” He asks bluntly. 

“I’m not mad…” she trails off.

“You’re hurt but something I did. Is it tied to the fact that I saw the shamrock?” Emily doesn’t answer him right away. Part of her wants to deny everything and just allow them to sit in silence as the next episode of The Office starts. But she knows ignoring everything won’t fix it. 

“It’s not as much because you saw it. It’s how you reacted to it.” Her voice is soft as she picks at the skin at the edge of her nail.

“How I reacted to it?” He repeats as Aaron’s not sure what she means by this. He hadn’t said anything about it, had his face said something he hadn’t meant? “What do you mean Emily?”

“Your face showed all I needed to know about how you felt about it. The only time I’ve ever seen that look is when you look at some of the most disgusting serial killers we’ve ever captured. And you made that face looking at me.”

“Emily, that wasn’t because I was looking at you. It was from looking at a mark that I knew an unsub had left on you. Someone hurt you, marked you up permanently, and that made me angry.” Aaron’s hand runs through his hair as he searches for the right words. “God, Emily, you’re one of the most beautiful people I know. I could never be disgusted looking at you.” Emily’s eyes don’t quite meet his as the words leave her lips.

“It didn’t feel that way when you were staring at something that I have only recently come to terms with myself with the darkest look painted across your features.” Aaron turns so he’s looking solely at her and not at the tv that has become only background noise.

“Emily, I never meant to make you feel like that, I promise. And I’m so sorry that I did. You’re my best friend and I never want to hurt you like that.”

“I know.” The words are quiet, but he drinks them in.

“How can I fix this?” Emily shakes her head in response.

“I don’t know. That image is going to be burned in my head for a while, Hotch.” He wants to pull her into his arms and reassure her that he loves every part of her, but he knows that that will only push her farther away.

“You tell me what you need, and I will do my best to fix it Emily.” He pauses before continuing. “I just want to fix this. You’re my best friend and I can’t lose your friendship over this.” She nods, but doesn’t say anything about it.

“Fuck.” The words are whispered from her lips and immediately Aaron is concerned that she’s feeling worse.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“We still have to work out today.” Emily says as her body releases a shiver.

“We can switch with tomorrow. It was supposed to be a rest day. So if you’re feeling up to it we can work out, but if you’re not, we can hold out and start back up when you’re feeling better.”

“You can go on without me.” Emily says as Aaron grabs the blanket of the back of the couch and drapes it around her.

“It’s ok, I’ll wait for you Emily.”  _ For anything, _ he adds only in his head and means it. He would wait for her to be ready for more for the rest of his life if he has too. His heart belongs to her.

“If you’re sure, then I guess we can keep watching this,” her head turns back to the tv, but his remains facing hers for a few more moments, too caught up on watching her.


	7. Day Seven

He hasn’t heard from Emily since he left her apartment last night and he’s not sure if that’s a good thing. Her fever had dropped to ninety nine point eight when he had left and she hadn’t thrown up since before they had fallen asleep in her bed that morning. She had told him to go home to his son but there was a part of him that wanted to stay with her again. But hopefully the lack of communication from her just meant she was sleeping off the bug that she had caught. Or she’s been sleeping all day because she still feels horrendous. He hopes it’s the former because she had a rough enough day the day before.

**Can I come over?**

His phone buzzes from her as if she knew he was thinking about her.

**Sure.**

**Are you feeling up to it?**

His initial response is to always welcome her into his house, but then he realizes that he’s not sure if she should even be driving depending on how today has been treating her.

**I’m feeling up to it. I think I**

**kicked the bug yesterday.**

**I haven’t had a fever since**

**last night and haven’t been**

**sick since you were over.**

**You’re always welcome here**

**I figure we need to get back**

**to working out**

**We can always wait one more**

**day Em.**

**I’m so restless. I’ve been on**

**the couch all dayyyyyy.**

**Please can we do something**

**active?!**

**Fine, but if you feel sick, we stop?**

**Deal.**

**Be there in 40**

Aaron goes up to his room to change into a set of workout clothes. He knows he has plenty of time before Emily will arrive, but the more time he procrastinates, the more he will try to talk himself out of working out. So instead of thinking about the exercises they are going to have to do, he focuses on slipping on the gray shirt, black shorts, and tennis shoes.

The couple of times he has come over to Emily’s apartment to workout, she has always been working on a book, so maybe he should give it a try to kill some time. But as he tries to let himself fall into the word on the page in front of him, he finds his mind wandering to the raven haired profiler who is on her way to the apartment. He can’t help it. She could take his breath away just by standing in front of him and he would be alright with it. With how his mind is wandering, he’s not even surprised when there’s a knock on the door and he hasn’t made any progress on the book.

He opens the door and there she is. “Hey Hotch.”

“Hi Emily, come on in.” He takes in the sight of her as she walks in, trying to judge how much better she’s feeling. His eyes land on her tank top. ‘My head says gym but my heart says tacos’. Of course she is wearing another graphic tank. He shouldn’t be focused on it for too long, or he might make her uncomfortable so he drags his eyes upwards. And that’s when it happens.

He finds himself lost in her onyx eyes. He should say something, but after spending so much time thinking about them the past few days and spending so much time with them yesterday, he’s lost. It’s not until a sound from outside of his body breaks them apart that he realizes that he had been staring for too long.

“Miss Emily!” Jack’s voice shouts out from behind the pair. “Are you all better?” The young Hotchner’s face is full of concern as he looks at one of his favorite people. “Daddy said you were feeling really bad and that’s why he was with you all day yesterday.”

“I was sick, but I’m better.”

“Did you have a fever?” Emily nods before adding.

“I was also really sick to my stomach.”

“That’s not fun.” Jack looks at the ground with sadness splashed across his features for a moment before he looks up at his dad and the brunette standing across from him. “Will you play with me? That always makes me feel better when I am getting over being sick.”

“I would love to play with you Jack, but your dad and I are actually going to work out.”

“Daddy doesn’t like working out.”

“Is that so?” Emily asks with a smirk appearing on her lips at his son knowing that Aaron doesn’t like getting into the workouts.

“He was saying things under his breath at it the other night.” Jack says as he nods his head. “So lets play instead?” Aaron laughs at his son’s insistence for them to play with him instead of working out, which he honestly would love nothing more than to do. “Why are you laughing?” Jack’s face becomes all serious as he looks at his dad.

“I think it’s a great plan, but maybe you and I can play something after Emily and I workout?” Aaron suggests instead.

“But I like when Miss Emily plays too.”

“Well maybe I can come over next Saturday to play, if you don’t have anything on your schedule?” Emily offers before Aaron can say anything.

“Promise?”

“I pinky promise to come over if we don’t have work.” She offers her pinky to the eight year old who wraps his pinky around hers.

“Jack do you want to go play while we workout?” Jack nods before running off to his bedroom. “You don’t have to give up your weekend to come pla-” Emily cuts him off.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded. Now let’s knock this workout out before we can change our minds.” He looks at her, almost expecting her to pull out her laptop, but she only has her wallet and her keys with her today. “Can we use your laptop? Mine had no charge.”

“Sure, sure.” He should have offered. She literally gave him the password the other night to workout, so why did he expect her to bring her computer over? He can’t help but wonder to himself as he steps into his office to grab his laptop. “Ready for more cardio?” he asks as he opens up his laptop and brings up the page for the workout.

“Not, but I’m ready to move.” Emily says honestly. 

“We can always do something other than Insanity. I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to do it today. Hell, I don’t even really want to do it today.”

“But then don’t we technically lose our bet?”

“We’re not quitting, we’re pausing while you're sick.”

“But I’m not sick anymore. If I need to take it down a notch I will. But I think we need to continue.” Emily says as she reaches to pull her ponytail a little bit tighter. “Don’t quit on me now Hotch.”

“I’m not quitting. I just don’t want you to pass out, or throw up.” Emily doesn’t say anything, but instead clicks through the pages to pull up the plyometric cardio circuit. 

“I’ll stop if I feel bad. But let’s keep going.” Emily knows Aaron cares for her. She can even sense there’s something more than just caring for her as a friend, but she pushes all of that from her head as she hits play on the screen to start the montage that is starting to get too familiar, and they still have nearly 60 days of watching it left. 

As they warm up and stretch, Aaron finds himself keeping an eye on Emily, even if only out of the corner of his eye. She has yet to call him out on it, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she does. But he feels reassured knowing that he can reach out and grab her if he sees her swaying towards the ground. They switch into the routine that they did on Monday, but he still feels his head pulled towards her. He’d be the first to admit that he almost always has a pull towards her, whether in the field, in the office, or sitting on her couch as they watch The Office while she’s sick. But this is a different kind of pull, this is a pull of protection, even if it’s protecting her from herself. He trusts her completely, so he should trust her in saying that she feels ready to workout, but this is also Insanity. He has hesitations about putting himself through the program, much less allowing her to go through it when he watched her spring back and forth between her bed and bathroom not even twenty four hours ago. 

However, as they roll into the cool down and stretching, he knows she was right to say they should go ahead with the workout. They made it through, both still breathing and, surprisingly, standing at the end of it. “We finished a week of it.” Emily says as she wipes a hand across her forehead.

“Don’t sound so surprised, we do have a physically demanding job.” Aaron tries to defend them.

“I more meant that we didn’t give up.” Emily lifts the hem of her green tank to wipe at the sweat coating her face.

“What would make you think we would do that?” Aaron asks as he uses the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his own face.

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that someone wanted to quit right before we started this workout.” She teases.

“Don’t know who that would be.” Aaron says with a shrug. “I definitely wanted to do that workout.” He starts to walk towards the kitchen to get some water. “Do you want something to eat? Or maybe some water?”

“I should head out. Go take a shower.” Emily says quickly, as her mind is filled with what happened after the last time they worked out together.

“Ok, if you’re sure.” Aaron’s almost- no he is disappointed that Emily is leaving so soon. He had been hoping that he would be able to convince her to stay with him and Jack for the evening after hearing her promise to hangout with Jack earlier. But then again, she only promised to play with Jack. She never said anything about wanting to be with Aaron during that time. Maybe she doesn’t want to fix their friendship like he does. He honestly has no clue after how they left everything yesterday. She turns to start walking towards the door and he has to call out to her. “Emily, wait.”

“Yeah Hotch?”

“Are we going to be ok?” She looks at him for a moment, her eyebrows pulled together.

“After that workout? I think we’ll be fine.” Emily answers, not completely sure what he’s asking. “Or do you mean because we went out of order?” Aaron shakes his head.

“Neither. Are we,” he points between them as he steps closer to her, “going to be ok after what happened between us?”

“I…” Emily trails off and she can’t look directly at him. “I don’t honestly know.” Aaron feels a piece of his soul break off at these words. “I want us to be though. Like you said yesterday, you’re my best friend.”

“But?” He asks.

“But I’m not sure how we get past what happened entirely, so for now I’m trying to focus on the right now until we do.” Emily buries herself into her mind for a moment before she looks into Aaron’s eyes. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” He braces himself for anything to come out of her mouth.

“Why did you phrase it the way you did?” Ok anything but that.

“What?”

“When we made our bet I mean. Why did you say as friends or as more?” Her arms cross in front of where her shirt says ‘My head says gym’. “Why did you phrase it like that and why now?”

“Why not now?” He says, ignoring the first half of her question since she can probably figure out the answer.

“Because we’ve known each other for six years. So why now? And don’t disregard the other question Hotch. Why did you phrase it like that?”

“Because I’m in love with you.” The words escape his lips. “Maybe those aren’t the words that you want to hear from me after everything that’s happened in the past couple days. But I needed you to know now, before some unsub comes in and ruins everything for us. With our career, who knows how soon one of us could end up dead, for real or pretend, or on the run?” He waits for Emily to say something, anything really, but nothing leaves her ruby red lips. “But I meant it, as friends, as more, I’ll take whatever I can get from you Emily.”

“I have to go.” Emily’s sprinting away from him, but this time it’s not because she’s sick. The sound of his apartment door swinging shut behind her shatters the rest of his soul.


	8. Day Eight

JJ walks into her friend’s office after hearing the news from the horse’s mouth. “Did you know Emily was sick this weekend?” JJ asks her blonde friend. 

“What? That’s awful! Is she ok?”

“She’s fine now. Stomach bug or something. But you know what’s more interesting. That Hotch knew about it before any of us told him. And knew that she was for sure better.” Penelope’s head cocks to an angle.

“Like as if he was with her all through it or something?” A smile fills Penelope’s face like the Cheshire Cat. “Do you think they’re finally acting on the feelings they’ve had forever?”

“I don’t know. What I do know though, is they’re acting really strange around each other.”

“Strange like sexual tension is killing them?” Penelope asks in a voice filled with hope.

“No strange, like when Hotch gets too close to Emily she side steps and she’ll dismiss his questions if she can.”

“Wasn’t she angry with him last week?”

“Yes, but this is different than even that. Like she would still interact with him. This is just pure awkwardness between them. Like more awkward than trying to get Spence to tell jokes. It’s like there’s something that isn’t being said between them.”

“That could just be the sexual tension.” Penelope says as the lock to her lair is clicked open. The two blondes turn to see the raven haired female in question walking in. “I heard you were sick! Why didn’t you call me? I would have come to take care of you.”

“Hotch ended up at my apartment and then stayed because he saw I was sick and didn’t want me to be alone. Otherwise I probably would have.” Emily says with a shrug. “Did you get the attachment I sent you?” Penelope nods, noting the distraction that Emily tried, not allowing for further questions. “Can you run that picture through facial recognition?”

“It’s already running, that’s why I’m chatting with JJ until I get a hit.” She smiles at her friend. 

“So want to explain why Hotch has stayed over twice in one week?” JJ throws out, knowing it will allow Penelope to get caught up, while also answering the questions she has.

“Because I’ve been sick. And according to Hotch I’m not allowed to stay by myself when I’m sick.” Both blondes catch each other's eyes. “Don’t make those faces. He’s just being the over protective best friend that he is. Nothing more.”

“For some reason I don’t believe that. Because I’ve gotten sick on cases and he knew and I think he’s exact wording was, get some sleep see you when you’re feeling better.”

“Key word being on a case.”

“Emily, he gave up a weekend with Jack to stay with you while you were sick. That’s not something you just do for a friend. He doesn’t get enough time with Jack as is.” JJ points out before adding, “I wouldn’t just give up a weekend with Henry to stay with you when you’re sick, no offense.”

“Clearly he has feelings for you. Ship Hotchniss here we come!” Penelope exclaims. Emily doesn’t say anything as she is taken back to last night and what was said in Aaron’s apartment.

“Did we lose you Emily?” 

“Or are you too busy thinking about something else?”

“You too are clearly on something. Hotch and I are best friends. That’s it.” She forces an eye roll to make it seem less suspicious before adding, “Will you let me know when that recognition search comes through? I’m going to work on my case files if you too are just going to voice your fantasies.” Emily turns away from the profiler and the tech analyst to return towards the bull pen.

“So what’s wrong between you and Emily?” Dave’s voice comes from the doorway of Aaron’s office.

“What are you talking about?” Aaron asks, not looking up from the case file in front of him, knowing that Dave would catch some microexpression if he did.

“On a day as slow as today, one of you would take the other coffee by now and sit and chat for a while, seeing as there’s no rush to get anything done. Unless of course you were in meetings all day. But Strauss is on vacation for the next week, so you’re out of meetings until she’s back. So what’s wrong between the two of you?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Aaron denies anything is wrong before turning the page in the file he’s looking at.

“So you two aren’t avoiding each other? And Emily hasn’t been side stepping away from all the times you’ve been too close to her whereas she normally doesn’t care? Or there’s the whole thing where you paired Reid and Morgan to work on a case file that easily could have been done between you and Emily.” Dave ticks off the things that have been done differently. “Care to comment?”

“No.” Aaron turns his head ever so slightly to look at the evidence shot in front of him.

“Something is off. What did you do?”

“Who’s to say I did something?”

“Are you saying Emily did something then?”

“No I’m just saying why would you think I’m the one to blame?”

“Because she’s reacting to you, not the other way around.” Dave points out. “So again I ask, what did you do? Did you forget plans or something?”

“Emily and I are fine.”  _ I hope, _ he thinks to himself.

“Now why don’t I believe that?” Dave says as he leans against the chair in front of Aaron’s desk.

“Because you like to think that we’re all up to things that we’re not.” Aaron rolls his eyes, an action he has gotten too comfortable doing from being around Emily all the time. “Is there something else I can help you with?” 

“No, I guess there’s not.” Dave pushes off the chair in front of him and turns towards the door. But he turns back towards the man sitting across the room. “Aaron, whatever you did, there’s always a chance to make it right again.”

“Dave-”

“I know. Nothing is wrong. But if it was, you can always make it right.” Dave just looks over the shell of the man sitting in front of him. “Just think about it, alright?”

“I will.”

The words of last night keep replaying in her ears as she tries to power through the work sitting in front of her.  _ “Because I’m in love with you. Maybe those aren’t the words that you want to hear from me after everything that’s happened in the past couple days. But I needed you to know now, before some unsub comes in and ruins everything for us. But I meant it, as friends, as more, I’ll take whatever I can get from you Emily.” _

“...right Emily?” Morgan’s voice cuts through her thoughts and she realizes she’s missed more than she should have.

“Hmmm?” She sets the paper down and spins slowly in her chair to look at the man leaning against Reid’s desk.

“Did you hear a word I just said?”

“Not really. I was reading.” Emily holds up the case file to show what she had been looking at. “What did you say?”

“I was saying with how slow this week is going, we can take our time. So how about you, me, and Pretty Boy here break out of here for lunch?”

“I think I’m going to work through lunch. I still have a bunch of case files to work on.” She knows her excuse is paper thin, but she doesn’t really want to go out to when she can’t figure out how to process everything in her mind.

“You’re ahead of all of us. I think you can take a break to eat some food with all of us.” Reid points out.

“I can’t be ahead of you. You read faster than all of us.” Emily says looking at the boy genius.

“If I was reading, I would be done. But someone has been distracting me all day.”

“So you’re saying this is my fault?” Morgan holds a hand to his chest as he stares at the younger boy sitting across from him.

“Without your distraction, I would have been finished a while ago.” Reid shrugs.

From his office, Aaron watches the interaction between three of his agents. Dave isn’t completely wrong. Emily has been avoiding him, all day. She hasn’t been talking to him, which to be honest he expected based on the situation and what he said to her yesterday. But she has been avoiding him, even when the group was all together discussing a case together. He didn’t want to admit to Dave that he knew exactly what he was talking about and that he had been hurt when Emily side stepped away from him. He knows he needs to give her time. And hopefully it will lead to her coming to a decision in one way or another that will hopefully save their friendship.

Emily can feel his eyes on them from down in the bullpen, but she can’t bring her own to meet his. She can’t even find the right words to say anything after what he said to her yesterday. She just doesn’t know what to say to him. She can’t trust her heart to not be broken and to not lose her best friend, so she’ll stay silent and hope that he can forgive her cowardliness. There’s no better words to call what she did. She fucking ran from him last night after he told her he loves her. She, Emily Prentiss, who doesn’t allow herself to be scared of things, ran from his apartment without any other explanation of her actions. And if that wasn’t the worst of her actions, she’s now avoiding him. JJ hadn’t been wrong when pointing out how she’s acting around him. God, she’s a coward. She’s scared of feeling more for him. She’s scared of saying more to him.

“Enjoy your files.” Morgan teases as he and Reid walk toward the elevator.

“Thanks,” Emily doesn’t even look up as she speaks, but instead flips the page to glance at the next page of information as much as she can with her thoughts being distracted by the man in the office located above her.

She’s still his best friend, at least he hopes. So he can suck it up and talk to her. Especially if others are noticing the awkwardness between them. How did he manage to mess it up more between them. Last night’s conversation was supposed to fix them, or at least get them on the path to being alright again, but somehow they’re worse off. Making a mental note that Reid and Morgan have left the bullpen, but Emily stayed behind, he grabs the empty coffee mug off his desk and makes way to talk to his best friend.

“Taking a working lunch?” His voice cuts through her thoughts and she has to stop the shudder from escaping through her shoulder.

“Have too many case files to catch up on.”

“Somehow I doubt that. You’re the farthest ahead out of everyone.” Crap. How could she forget that she can’t lie to the man that keeps tab on the files she turns in? “Even Reid is behind on his case files, which is very unlike him.”

“Well you can blame Morgan for that one. Apparently he’s been distracting Reid all day.” Her caramel drizzled eyes finally make contact with his and it’s the first time all day. He’s missed seeing her eyes.

“But somehow you’ve found the best weapon to stay ahead of his tactics of distraction?” Aaron asks, trying to keep the discussion going, wanting to keep her voice in his ears.

“I’ve just been ignoring him, not really on purpose though. Just been too distracted to notice him talking to me.” Emily says motioning to the files in front of her with a flick of her wrist. 

“Well that means you’re probably still in the lead of everyone in terms of who has their case files done, so join me for lunch?” Emily hesitates, thinking once again back to their conversation from the night prior. “It’s just two friends grabbing food Em.”

“Is it?” The two words slip out before she can stop them. But Aaron doesn’t let that deter him.

“Whatever I can get from you Emily. I told you that already.” He pauses before adding, “Plus shouldn’t we get something healthy to eat to stay on track with Insanity?”

“I guess you’re right.” Emily sets the file in her hands down. “Where were you thinking?”

“The diner?” He says thinking of their favorite lunch spot.

“It might be trickier to get food there, but it does sound really good.” And with that, the pair fell back into the rhythm they normally had. Heading to the diner, grabbing food, returning to the federal building, there was easy conversation flowing between the two of them as neither brought back up the conversation from the night prior of what feelings had been revealed. Morgan, JJ, and Rossi even noted the pair being more friendly towards each other by the time they returned to the bullpen.

“Is something up between Hotch and Emily?” Morgan asks Rossi and JJ as they both stand getting a cup of coffee.

“Why do you ask?” JJ asks before adding some sweetener to her own cup.

“Because she was actively avoiding him all morning and then went out to lunch with her.”

“Aaron did something stupid. I don’t know what it was, but I told him he should apologize as soon as he could.” Rossi says, sliding the creamer back into the fridge.

“They did spend like all weekend together since Emily was sick. They probably just got on each others’ nerves.” JJ sips on her coffee after throwing out her own guess. The three profilers look over to where one of the two brunettes is sitting, trying to figure out anything as their afternoon is pulling to a close. She grabs a stack of case files and makes her way to Aaron’s office.

“Come in.” The voice from the other side calls out. She opens the door and walks in.

“Case files for you.” She holds them out towards his outstretched hand. “Also I was going to see who’s house you want to work out at?” 

“We can go to your apartment. I have workout clothes in my car.” Aaron glances at his desk. “If you can give me like ten minutes to check in with everyone, I can be ready to go.” Emily nods before heading back to her own desk. She can spend the next ten minutes purging things from her email box.

“Did you and Hotch get in a fight?” Morgan’s voice cuts in before she can get started.

“What? What makes you think that?” She replies before typing in her password to open her inbox.

“You and he were acting weird around each other and now you’re not.” Emily raises an eyebrow over her shoulder at the dark skinned profiler next to her.

“I don’t know what you’ve been taking, but maybe cut back on it.” She starts highlighting emails that are easy deletes.

“Emily, you know you can talk to me about anything right?” Emily turns in her chair.

“I know. But Morgan, nothing is wrong between me and Hotch.” Emily thinks back to what Aaron said about coming to check in with everyone and decides to give Morgan a heads up. “But he may have a problem with you if you don’t have any case files to give him when he comes to check in with you before he heads out for the night.”

“You have nothing to worry about. I have a solid three that are done.” Emily’s jaw falls. “What?”

“Three? From all day?”

“No…? Ok, maybe.”

“Maybe instead of worrying about everyone else’s business, you might want to focus on case files a bit more.”

“Cover for me?” Morgan throws over his shoulder as he walks off towards his office.

“Cover for him?” Aaron asks as he walks up to her desk.

“Something about needing to find some case files I think.” Emily shrugs as she goes back to her emails. Aaron rolls his eyes but walks towards where JJ’s and Morgan’s offices are. He knows that Emily would never throw one of her team members under the metaphorical bus, but he can bet Morgan isn’t looking for case files. If anything, he’s probably trying to finish a few extras before Aaron finds him. Morgan tends to rush through his case files to make it look like he’s been doing more work that he has in their days in the office, so it just means more that he’ll have to go over and have Morgan re-do. 

As expected, he sees Morgan frantically writing in case files when he walks through the office door. “Well this is the most work I’ve seen you doing all day.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that I’ve seen you around Reid and Prentiss’ desks more than your own. So how many files have you actually finished?”

“Three.” Morgan says as his face is washed over with shame.

“Maybe tomorrow spend more time on work than distracting your coworkers.” The Hotch Glare comes out of it’s own accord and Morgan can only nod. His hand reaches out for the files that Morgan does have finished. “Leave the rest on my desk before you leave.”

“Sure Hotch.” Morgan doesn’t even think to ask Hotch about the fight he suspects happened between him and Emily. Instead he just watches as his unit chief is one of the first ones to leave for the night.

As Emily drives home, she listens to the albums on her phone, but her eyes keep falling to her rear view mirror where she can see Aaron following her. What she sees though surprises her. As she sits at a red light, she watches him jam out and sing along to some song that only he can hear. What she wouldn’t give to be in that car with him. It makes her smile to imagine the scene, but she doesn’t have to as it plays out in front, or well behind her. She’s so caught up in watching that she almost misses the fact that the light has changed from red to green. It’s these smaller moments that other people don’t get to see of Aaron that she loves. These more playful moments, or the moments when he shows off the parent side of him, or the moments when he gives up his Saturday to stay home with her because she’s sick- those moments. She knows it would be easy to love him, too easy probably, but can she risk her friendship with him if it all goes badly?

After parking, he grabs his go bag like it’s second nature now and follows her to her apartment. “You can get changed in the bathroom while I grab clothes Hotch.” Emily says as she bends down to scratch behind the ears of the furry friend who is too excited to see his owner home finally. He nods before heading into her bathroom. She walks towards her bedroom, with a black cat shadow hot on her heels. In her closet it’s easy to grab out a green tank, black shorts, and a pair of tennis shoes. She changes into them before throwing her hair into a ponytail. She grabs her laptop out of her bag and sets up in the living room as Aaron walks out of the bathroom.

“Is this another shirt Garcia bought for you?” Aaron asks as he takes in the writing which reads ‘Squats? I Thought You Said Shots!’. Emily glances down at her tank before nodding.

“She tends to find a bunch of really fun ones and buys them as gifts.” Emily turns back to the screen as she clicks through the pages to pull up the right workout page.

“What’s the torture of the day?” Aaron asks as he steps into her living room space.

“Cardio Power and Resistance.” Emily says as she clicks the link to start the video.

“Why is everything cardio? Why can’t we have some strength training?”

“We are doing strength training. It’s built into today’s workout.”

“I more meant like lifting some weights and calling it a day.”

“That’s not Insanity,” she says as the familiar montage starts.

“But that would be easier.”

“Also not how Insanity works.” Emily comments as they start the warm up and stretching. After that, their conversation dies down as they focus on the moves in front of them. The moves are tough still, Aaron’s not sure if they’ll ever get  _ easy _ , but he definitely feels like he’s less sore by the end of the work out. To be honest, he’s almost surprised when they get to cool down and stretching. Emily is staring at him and he almost feels subconscious. 

“What?” He asks.

“I’m waiting for you to lay down on my floor.” He feels like a child but he sticks his tongue out at her anyway.

“I’m fine right where I am.”


	9. Day Nine

The call had woken her hours before her alarm should have. After over a week of being in the office, they were jetting off to another state to help in a case of missing women. A new one had gone missing less than 6 hours ago and it has been less than 48 hours since the previous one had gone missing. So they were heading to Twin Falls, Idaho to hopefully help locate the four missing women before anything more sinister can happen. Emily had thrown workout clothes, a shaker bottle, and protein powder packets into her go bag before leaving for the jet. The team was briefing on the jet to cut back on the time it takes for all of them to drive into the office and then driving to the air strip. 

She should make a shake to take with her to the air strip but glancing at the clock, she either has time to make a shake or get ready. But knowing that they will be running straight from the jet to the precinct or other assignments, she chooses the latter. She’ll make sure to grab a protein bar or something to eat in the car. Even though it’s early March, the weather of Idaho is less forgiving than Virginia. It’s a whole ten degrees colder there so Emily reaches for the light pink sweater handing in her closet before stepping into a pair of jeans and then a pair of her boots. She works on combing her hair into a ponytail before applying some light makeup. Grabbing her hairbrush and her makeup bag she throws them both into her go bag before turning into the kitchen to grab a protein bar to eat on the plane. She’s cutting it close on time already so right now she needs to focus on the road.

Aaron knows Emily like the back of his hand. And if he’s right about how she’ll act, he can bet she’s already swapping out her normal shake and coffee for a protein bar. When they leave on cases, her focus turns to laser in on the problems in front of her but she tends to forget about things like eating, as if that’s going to take away the need to nourish herself. So looking for the extra shaker bottle he knows that Beth left here when they were doing training together, he comes up with a plan. If one of them has to remind the other to eat, then so be it, he’ll be that person until it becomes a forefront of her mind as well.

Emily is one of the first few people to step on the jet surprisingly. Apparently there was an accident that she had avoided, but had caught JJ, Morgan, and Rossi from beating her to the plane. So she’ll wait for them with Reid and Aaron. “Here.” Aaron’s voice is soft as he hands her a shaker bottle. Her eyebrows draw together as she takes the cup into her hand. “I figured you probably skipped it to be on time. Am I wrong?”

“Profilers.” She can’t help but roll her eyes at her best friend as she sits down next to him. Reid doesn’t say anything as he flips from page to page of the case file, taking in all the information they have yet to go over. At least the three profilers who aren’t here can’t mess with them about Aaron bringing her breakfast. She would never hear the end of it from JJ or Morgan if either of them were here. By the time the last three profilers do arrive, Aaron and Emily are already a decent way through their protein shakes and no one is the wiser who brought whom their shake.

“Protein club again and I wasn’t invited? Now I feel like you’re training to try and take me out or something.” Morgan says, the teasing tone filling his voice as he sits down on the couch.

“Just getting a healthy start to the day.” Aaron says quickly before changing the subject, “Now moving on to the case…”

By the time they landed in Idaho, no one was really thinking about anything besides their case. Aaron had rattled off different assignments, sending Reid and JJ to the most recent kidnapping location, Emily and Morgan to talk with the victim’s husband and keeping Rossi and himself at the precinct to go over the information they do have.

There’s not a ton to go off of at the precinct. Sure there’s a map of the locations the women disappeared from and some pictures of the sites, but other than that there’s not much. But the unsub has a clear type which is why they were brought in as well as the fact of how quickly the unsub was kidnapping different women. They also have missing person cases to look through to see if there are any other women who might fit the type.

After a few hours of combing through different files, Rossi and Aaron start to compile a food order so that lunch can be delivered for the team soon. While Rossi reaches out to Reid and JJ. Hotch texts Morgan. He already knows that what he’s ordering for himself is the only thing that he and Emily can eat.

“I notice you didn’t reach out to Emily to find out what she wants.” Rossi says, not really asking a question, but still asking a question.

“That’s because I already know what she wants.” Aaron replies, trying to not open this can of worms.

“Really? From a restaurant in a different state that we’ve never ordered from before?”

“Yup.” He should probably shoot her a text explaining why he ordered for her, but she’ll probably guess that it was the only thing on the menu that fits their plan, right?

When the delivery comes everyone on the team is back in the precinct going over the latest in leads and information. Dave and Aaron start handing out food. “Grilled chicken, veggies and rice. Aaron I think that was yours.” Dave pulls out another container with the same thing. “Oh wait, who else ordered the same thing?”

“That’s Emily’s.” Emily says nothing but takes the food. The team waits for something from her, but when there is nothing from her lips, they turn back to what they were doing. “Everyone got your food?” Nods happen around the table. “Good.”

Even as they eat, theories are thrown around and a profile is built. They know they only have limited time to find these women before it’s either too late or the trail will run cold. Once the team finishes eating, Aaron sends the group out on new leads- this time JJ with Rossi and Reid with Morgan.

“Can you pick something not so bland next time?” Emily’s voice comes from behind him as he pins the latest information to their board. 

“Trust me, if anything else on the menu had fit, I would have. That was literally the only thing that complied with our eating plan.” He turns to grab the next photo but her hand is already holding it out to him. “Thanks.” His body returns to face the board in front of him. “Dave was giving me shit for not checking with you before ordering you food.” From his peripheries, he sees her shrug.

“As long as it fits the meal plan, I’m fine with it. Although I really crave  _ actual _ chinese food after watching Morgan with his kung pao chicken. He literally looked like he was having a moment with his chicken. I almost asked if they needed a room.”

“Morgan would have told you that it’s an experience. And then offered you some.”

“And then he would have been really confused when I turned it down. Honestly, I’m still not convinced he hasn’t figured us out with the protein shakes yet.”

“Wanna make a second bet? That they can’t figure out what the actual bet is?”

“And what happens for the winner?”

“How about the winner gets to pick the menu for our post Insanity meal?”

“Like picking the restaurant?”

“No like gets to pick what each of us eats.” Emily’s eyebrows raise up as she thinks this over.

“You’d really let me pick your food?”

“You really think you can beat me?”

“How long do you think they’ll last?” Emily asks, crossing her arms.

“Oh at least til the end of the month.”

“I think they won’t figure out the entire time.” Emily extends her hand. “So do we have a bet?” Aaron takes her hand.

“I think we do.” The rest of the day Aaron and Emily are working through information from Garcia and don’t really have time to talk about their bet or anything else. By the time the team has to take a break, they’ve been up for nearly nineteen hours since the call came to them that morning. “There’s not much more we can do right now. Everyone go back to the hotel and get some sleep. We’ll come back in the morning and hopefully we have a new lead. Especially since Garcia is running some searches.” No one objects to going back to the hotel since they’ve all been up for way too long at this point. The drive back to the hotel was almost completely silent too. The only sound in the SUV was the radio to keep him awake and the heater blowing to keep them all warm.

Luckily getting checked in and finding their rooms was easy. Aaron has two things on his mind- taking a shower and crawling into bed. But a knock on his door tells him that’s not going to happen right away. He opens the door, hoping to get whatever the need at the door is over with so he can go to bed. He is surprised to see Emily standing at his door in a grey tank top that reads ‘Why Am I Doing This To Myself’, a pair of running capris, and her favorite tennis shoes but holding her laptop in her hands. “You’re going to workout after how long we’ve all been up?”

“Got to do something Insane to change.” Emily says with a smile. “You’re welcome to quit. But you did seem pretty sure about winning that bet.”

“No. Give me two minutes.” Aaron closes his door and goes digging in his bag for workout clothes. He had packed them sure, but had he expected to actually use them, not so much. He shrugs on the grey t-shirt, black shorts, and pulls on running shoes. As he opens his door, he finds Emily still waiting for him. “Do we even know where the gym is?”

“On the ground floor.”

“And what’s today’s workout?”

“Pure Cardio.”

“I was really hoping you wouldn’t say that.” Aaron groans.

“You knew it would come around again eventually.” She says as they step on the elevator and press the button for the ground floor.

“Does that mean that tomorrow is Cardio recovery?”

“Sorry to disappoint, but no.”

“How does it not come after Pure Cardio?” He asks as they step off on the floor that the gym resides on.

“Because that’s not how the plan goes.” Emily shrugs as they walk into a completely empty gym. “Wow, not even Morgan is here working out.”

“Are you really that surprised? By the time we’re done with this, we’ll have been up for nearly 20 hours.”

“We’ll sleep really well once it’s over with then.” Emily teases as she pulls up the video for that night. “We could always get up early and work out before the day starts.”

“Are you wanting to pass out from exhaustion?”

“I’m just saying it’s an option if you don’t want to stay up so late.”

“Are you not a night owl?” He had always assumed she was, but her offering to get the workout done after not sleeping much made him think otherwise.

“No I am, but I also think getting it done so we don’t have to worry about it might be worth it.”

“It’s worth a thought. But maybe not when we’ve been up for twenty hours the day before.”

“Whatever you say.” Emily hits play on the video to start the montage that begins their workout everyday. They get into the warm up, stretching, and then the main exercising. As tired as they should be, the work out isn’t as bad as it should feel. In actuality, it feels pretty good to be moving and doing all of the different things that push their bodies. Before they know it, they’re cooling down and stretching as their forty minute workout is pulling to a close. “Now… was that so bad?” Emily asks as she catches her breath.

“Yes.” Aaron says as he wipes the sweat with the collar of his shirt. “But it did feel good to get it done.”

“That’s what I thought.” Emily says with a smile. “Now, it’s time for a shower and bed.”

“Well if that’s what you want.” Aaron says suggestively and Emily’s face falls ever so slightly.

“I think the bureau wouldn’t be happy paying for an extra hotel room, on top of a bunch of other things.”

“I was just joking Em.”

“We should go to bed. Separately.” She adds this time and she also can’t meet his eyes. Crap. Why hadn’t he just kept his mouth shut?


	10. Day Ten

“Hotch, we have a lead from the searches Garcia was working on.” Emily’s voice calls out to him and he hopes this means the day won’t be as awkward as he thought it might be since she’s at least speaking to him today. The wind cuts through their coats as the snow falls around them while they walk towards the police station. She holds a hand out to him and he’s surprised to see the shaker that he had handed to her yesterday waiting for him in her outstretched hand. His eyes pop up to look into hers and find an answer for why she’s offering him a shake. “You brought me breakfast yesterday. Thought I’d return the favor.” 

“Thanks,” He says as he lifts the bottle to his lips. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night after watching her walk away from him. He kept thinking through his words and wondering why he had decided to speak so flirtatiously with her when he’s still not sure how she feels about them. Sure she knows that he’s in love with her, but for all he knows, she wants them to stay as friends and nothing more.

“Didn’t sleep well last night?” She asks, noting the dark circles under his eyes.

“Bed was too firm and I had too much on my mind anyway.”

“Hotch-”

“We don’t have to talk about it Emily.” He doesn’t really want to bring up what was, or really what wasn’t said last night, especially before they go meet their team. “Let’s just focus on bringing these women home.” Emily’s brow furrows in confusion on why he’s acting so distant this morning.

“Sure Hotch.” She takes a sip of her own protein shake and follows him into the station. Was last night’s conversation weird as they left the gym? Sure. But did she think he would be this distant to her? No.

“Where are we at?” He asks as they walk up to where everyone else is sitting. The team looks up at him and starts throwing out bits of information regarding their case, but Emily finds her eyes keep pulling back to him as she tries to figure out why they haven’t had a moment of coming back to normal today. She feels like ever since they started doing this workout bet, they’ve been more off than normal. But could that have something to do with him admitting his feelings to her? Is that why they’re having more awkward moments between them? She doesn’t know how she feels about him besides the fact that he’s one of her best friends yet three days ago he told her that he’s in love with her. Out of nowhere, Morgan’s hand is wrapped around her wrist and pulling her along.

“Come on. Clearly you were zoning out, but we have a new assignment.” He leads them out of the station house and towards one of the parked SUVs. “So where’s your head at this morning Princess?” He asks as he flips the heaters all the way to warm to start warming the car. 

“It’s nothing.” Emily tries to think of something, anything to move the conversation away from what she was zoned out over.

“If it was nothing, you wouldn’t have been thinking about it while Hotch was giving assignments. So how about instead of trying to deny it, we chat about it instead?” Morgan cocks an eyebrow at her as he moves the car into reverse.

“Hotch and I had an awkward moment last night and he’s being really distant today because of it.”

“You two are really having a week of off moments aren’t you?”

“I think it’s just we’ve been spending a lot of time together over the past week since I got sick and so we might have gotten on each other’s nerves too many times. It’s honestly probably nothing. I’m probably just overthinking everything.”

“Maybe you two need a break from each other?” Morgan suggests as he pulls onto Main Street.

“And how do you suggest that when we’re on a case?” Emily can’t help but smirk as she asks this.

“Well seeing as you two decided to head off in gym clothes together last night, I would say maybe do your workouts on your own.” Emily’s head snaps over towards her partner. “I wasn’t spying on you two or anything. I just happened to be coming back from getting ice and I saw the two of you heading off to work out. I do have questions though. Mainly like why were you bringing your laptop with you? Do you not trust leaving it in the hotel room?”

“We’re doing a specific training program. It was on my computer.”

“Is that why you two keep drinking protein shakes all the time now?” Morgan asks without looking away from the road as he makes a left turn.

“Yeah that’s a part of the training program.”

“I was wondering. You and Hotch weren’t into protein shakes before like a week ago. What kind of training plan is it? Cardio? Weights? High Intensity?”

“A little of everything I guess.” Emily says, not sure how to explain Insanity.

“What are you doing?” He looks over at her before making a right turn.

“Insanity.”

“Really? Who convinced who to do it?”

“What makes you think it wasn’t just a mutual decision?”

“Because I know you two. One of you had to convince the other. So who did it?”

“I was a little more motivated to do it. I have a vacation coming up.” She’s hoping the word vacation will distract Morgan and it does.

“Oooo, vacation. Where are you going?” Before she has a chance to answer, he adds, “More importantly, who are you taking?”

“Myself. I haven’t been away from the job since the whole Doyle thing. So I’m treating myself, in the words of a great TV show.”

“Where are you going?”

“What the oh so great profiler can’t figure it out?” Emily teases her partner as they pull up to the location of their assignment.

“I could if I wanted to.” 

“Then my lips are sealed.” Emily says before getting out of the SUV.

Which is why when they get back to the station a little more than two hours after Aaron last saw them, Morgan is spouting off different locations and Emily is just shaking her head. “Jamaica? Berlin? Mexico? France? Spain? Germany? Austria? New Zealand? Japan? China?” Emily shakes her head again as they walk up to the table.

“What are you trying to figure out?” Reid asks.

“Where I’m going on vacation.” Emily says.

“When are you going on vacation?” JJ asks, surprised this hasn’t come up at girls’ night yet.

“In a little over two months. But Morgan is pretty sure he can figure it out on his own, so I’m letting him.” As Aaron hears all these words leave Emily’s mouth, he realizes the only information he knows about her vacation is that it’s outside of the United States since she had to inform her unit chief. Besides that, he has no idea either. And apparently, outside of the US is the only thing that Morgan has been able to figure out since they left their site. 

“Well as interesting as it would be to keep playing a guessing game right now, do we have any new information about the case?” Aaron asks, trying to keep his tone light so that Emily doesn’t think he’s upset with her.

“Not much.” Emily says before Morgan adds what they learned at their site.

“Basically, Kassidy hadn’t been to yoga in over two months and Julia in six. But both still had working cards on file so they were being charged for it.”

“And neither of the other two don’t utilize yoga studios according to their bank statements and significant others’.” Garcia’s voice comes over the speaker phone in the middle of the table.

“So that makes this a dead end.” Rossi adds quickly.

“What if it’s not though?” Emily tosses out. 

“What do you mean?” Aaron asks.

“What if the unsub has been following these women for a while? And now was the moment that made sense to take them? So Kassidy and Julia may not have used the yoga studio recently, but at the time that they did, the unsub used it to figure out their routine.”

“So basically, you want to trace their routines from two to six months ago?” Aaron asks.

“If it’s the only link we have to connect these women then, I think why not?”

“At this point, it might be the only lead we have. Garcia do a search through their financials for up to a year ago for anything that is no longer being routinely charged. JJ call Marsha’s husband and see if there’s anything that he can think of that she no longer routinely goes to. Morgan do the same with Kassidy’s fiance. Rossi, take Julia’s girlfriend. Reid call Tanya’s husband. Emily you and I will make a list based on what we already have.” Emily is a bit surprised that Aaron placed them together, but that’s not going to stop her.

Lists are compiled on different spaces and Garcia cross checks different places to see if any of the places that the significant others come up with are on the other lists. The clocks for each of the women are running and they know if they don’t hurry, there’s a chance that these women might not come home. Emily and Morgan are placed on ordering lunch for everyone today and chose an Italian place that one of the deputies recommended. Morgan goes around taking down some of the orders and Emily can already bet what she and Hotch are going to eat since there’s only a couple things on the menu that meet the meal plan. 

While they wait for their food to be delivered, they all comb through the information they do have. As they find information to add to their list of places the unsub could have found the missing women, they add it to the ongoing lists. There’s not a lot of matching between the lists. So far there’s a handful of groceries stores, a bank between a couple of the women, a library, a few movie theaters, and a few worship facilities. But seeing as the women all live in similar areas of the city, it’s not really that surprising. JJ gets up to add something to the board as a box of food is brought into the room. Morgan and Emily pass out take out containers to everyone as they keep working.

“Tanya’s body was just found.” The sheriff's voice interrupts their meal time and they all look up. “Right off of Main Street. I sent some of my officers to go and set up barricades, but I figured I should come let you know.”

“Rossi, JJ go out there and see what you can find out. Morgan and Reid go tell Tanya’s husband. Emily, once the body goes to the morgue, you and I will head over there.” Aaron assigns everyone things to do.

“Wasn’t Tanya the third to be taken?” Aaron nods. “So why was she the first to be killed?”

“She might be the third to be killed and we just haven’t found the bodies.”

“The unsub left the body on Main Street. There isn’t much more out in the open than that in this part of town.”

“Which could mean he’s escalating and that’s why he’s dumping in the main part of town.”

“Or she is the first of the four that he’s killed.” Emily says, making the point she’s been trying to get to.

“That’s an option. I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m just saying we can’t say that they aren’t also dead with the fact that he’s killed Tanya.”

“But he could also be keeping them alive too.”

“We’ll know when we get to the morgue.”Aaron says and honestly hopes that she’s right. But the part of him that’s worked this job for too long knows not to count on that. There’s the chance they haven’t found the bodies. There’s the chance that the unsub hasn’t gotten rid of the bodies yet. Or there’s always the chance that this is the first body that the unsub has disposed of in this manner. They’ll just have to wait and see when they get to the morgue.

Their trip to the morgue confirmed that Emily was most likely right. Tanya had been kept alive until only two hours before she was found based off of the food in her digestive tract. So they had to hope that Marsha, Kassidy and Julia were all alive right now too. Their clocks were still going. Marsha had been taken first, but she had been missing for nearly three weeks at this point. Aaron didn’t have much hope that she was still alive based on the fact that Tanya had been killed only five days after she was taken, but he wasn’t going to say that Emily was wrong. 

The rest of the day moves with very little progress on the case. They can only hope that the women are still being held alive, but at this point, he has to put the health of his team first. “Let’s all take the night. We’ll meet back at seven and hopefully there will be new stones to turn at that point.” The team nods before they all go to pile into the SUVs waiting outside the station.

It had been another long day, but he knows that if Emily was willing to work out yesterday when they had been going for over nineteen hours, he was pretty sure she would be up to doing it again. So when he gets back to his room, instead of flipping onto his bed and just crashing for the night, he changes into a blue workout top, a pair of black shorts and a pair of tennis shoes. Then he turns back around and walks out the door to make his way towards Emily’s room. He knocks on the door three times and isn’t surprised when it opens quickly. “So I didn’t have to come find you tonight?” 

“I figured you were down whether I wanted to workout or not.”

“You got that right. We’re going to finish this no matter what.” Emily flashes a smile at him and for a quick moment, he could almost picture her smiling at him for reasons other than friendship. But he pushes those thoughts from his head and instead finds himself looking to see what workout top she’s wearing tonight since he’s gotten used to looking forward to the unique sayings. Tonight’s shirt says ‘If Only Sarcasm Burned Calories’ on a grey background. “Now let’s go get this workout in so you can hopefully get some sleep tonight.”

“Was I really that bad today?” Aaron asks, his eyebrows pulling down towards his eyes.

“No, well, you were just more stern. Or well not stern but more just not your normal self.” Emily takes a pause. “It wasn’t a bad thing, you just seemed off.”

“Hmm.” The pair walks in silence down to the gym. Aaron had hoped that he hadn’t let his mood affect the team that much, but maybe it wasn’t the team he let it affect, but specifically Emily. Should he say something to her? Apologize maybe? But if he apologizes he has to admit it was something other than just sleeping that was off.

Before he has a chance to act on any of it, they get down to the gym. There’s no one in the gym again since it’s so late. So Emily walks over to the bench where she had set up the laptop the night before and pulls up the video for tonight. “What’s tonight’s workout?”

“Plyometric Cardio Circuit.” Emily says as the video loads in her browser.

“Didn’t we just do that one?”

“There’s only four workouts. They just rotate.”

“But I feel like we literally just did that one.”

“We did it Sunday, but it should have been on Saturday if I wasn’t sick.” Emily says with a shrug. 

“Still too recently.” The video finally loads on the hotel wifi and the montage loads for a moment before it lags. “See even the hotel doesn’t want us to do it.”

“Just wait, it will hopefully work.”

“You tried to load a forty minute video on hotel wifi, what did you expect?”

“It worked last night Hotch, so why wouldn’t it tonight?” As if it heard her, the video starts again and finally they get into the warm up, stretching and, to Aaron’s disdain, the moves. The forty minutes moves quickly as they both break out in a sweat. Before they know it though, they are in the cool down and stretching part of the work out. “See… it worked.” Emily says as she catches her breath.

“Unfortunately.” Aaron says as he goes to wipe his brow.

“Hey, we’re done with ten days. Only fifty seven left.”

“We still have fifty seven to go though.” Aaron says with a groan.


	11. Day Eleven

As he rolls over, his eyes can only take in the beauty beside him. Emily is still sleeping, one arm pulled up for her head to rest on, the other wrapped around her ever growing stomach. One of his own hands reaches out to push the hair from her face, and a quiet sigh escapes her lips. Before he can stop himself, he leans over ever so slightly to place a kiss on her lips. He should let her sleep longer, but he can't stop himself when she looks like an angel. His wife smiles softly.

"Morning." She mumbles before moving to lay her head on his chest, not even opening her eyes.

"Morning Em. Did the baby finally let you sleep?" Her head nods without lifting from it's place of solitude.

"He finally stopped kicking at probably three last night." It's only a quarter after seven, so she only slept for four hours.

"Do you want to stay and sleep while I go meet up with the team?" Aaron doesn't want to leave the bed, but if it means she can get a little more sleep, he'll do it. But apparently she's not going to fall back asleep any time soon the shake of her head tells him. "No?" Usually Emily won't hesitate staying in bed longer.

"Someone's hungry." Her hand drifts to wrap around her midsection. His hand places itself on top of her hand a few moments later.

"First she keeps you up all night, now she's hungry first thing in the morning?" The ongoing argument of whether they think it's a boy or a girl is brought back into play. Emily is so sure that she's having a miniature Aaron, but Aaron can only imagine a baby Emily joining them a few months.

"He takes after you it seems." Emily says, twisting her fingers into his.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I let you sleep and me being hungry in the morning is a basic human response."

"You literally woke me up this morning." Emily rolls her eyes.

"Can't help it. My wife has the most kissable lips." Emily's eyes find his as one eyebrow raises in suspicion.

"So you're saying it's my fault that you woke me up?"

"I'm saying it-" He's cut off by the beeping of an alarm that he couldn't remember setting. He turns to reach for his phone, to shut it off, but it's not on the bedside table next to him. He looks over at Emily's bedside table to see if it's her phone going off. Emily opens her lips to say something, but the only sound that comes out is a beeping that is growing louder and louder each moment.

Turning over, he slams his finger to the screen of his phone to shut it off. Scrubbing a hand over his eyes, he doesn't want to open his eyes to see the emptiness next to him. That dream felt way too real and he wants to just go back to his dream land where he's allowed to hold Emily close and kiss her whenever he wants. Why his brain had to torture him when he's not even sure of Emily's own feelings, he'll never know. As he lays his head back on his pillow, he lets the images of a pregnant Emily curled up against him play in his mind again. Would he ever get to call her his?

At the precinct he can't bring his eyes to meet Emily's. It's like she'll figure out what he dreamed about if she looks in them. So instead, he spends all day pairing her up with anyone but him and hoping that the feeling of guilt for dreaming of her being in his bed, in his life will go away. He knows the guilt he feels could be way worse. If he had pictured her in a less decent setting, he would feel his gut in his toes. But to have pictured her being more in his life, left him feeling like there was a part of him missing, knowing she's just his best friend.

Something's off with Hotch. She can't figure out what it is, but he's not meeting her eyes and he keeps sending her to leave the building as his first assignment. Did she do something? She thought they had left everything on a fine note last night. They did their workout, talked about the case as they walked off to their rooms, and said goodnight without anything happening. Nothing about their interaction felt weird to her, and she hadn't even seen him until he arrived at the precinct this morning. Her eyebrows furrow with confusion as JJ and she walk to the SUV parked outside their witness' house.

"What's up between you and Hotch?" On the drive over, JJ hadn't brought it up, trying to focus on the interview, but now that they're heading back, she figures this is the best time to ask about the lack of interaction between the two dark haired profilers.

"So I'm not imagining it, right? He's acting weird right?" Emily can't help but ask for confirmation now that someone else has pointed out what is happening between them.

"He's acting like you did that day you were avoiding him. So what happened?" The blonde asks as she climbs into the driver's seat.

"I honestly have no idea." JJ says nothing, but her raised eyebrow says she doesn't believe the brunette. "No really. We were fine last night and this morning he's acting like he can't stand me."

"Last night?" JJ's voice raises in pitch as she questions Emily.

"Nothing like that. We did a workout last night. In the gym." She adds before JJ gets the wrong idea. "But we were totally fine after doing it. There was nothing weird between us and now there is."

"Have you thought about asking him?"

"When? He's kicked me out of the station all day. But I guess that's better than being stuck with someone who can't even meet my eye line." The two women sit in silence as they start to drive back towards the station after finishing with their witness.

"What if…" JJ trails off.

"What if?" Emily probes.

"What if he's not upset with you?" JJ throws out.

"Is this another he's-probably-in-love-with-you theories?" Emily asks, not wanting to egg her on, but having a feeling that this is where her friend is heading.

"And what if it is?" JJ tosses back. "Unless he's said something to you to say otherwise, there's nothing to say he's not." Emily thinks back to the words that had been spilled at his apartment a few days ago but keeps her face calm, not wanting to give anything away. "Being best friends is not that different from being in love with each other."

"Wow, a guy and a girl can't just be best friends? They have to be in love with each other?" Emily asks with a little laugh at the end of her question.

"I'm not saying they can't. I'm just saying with the two of you, there is more there that you haven't explored." JJ shrugs while keeping both hands on the steering wheel. "Plus for all we know, he has said something to you about it."

"What?" Emily doesn't even have to act surprised with this question. Where is JJ pulling this from?

"I'm just saying, if he said something, that would explain why you two have been weird around each other and maybe he thinks you don't feel the same so he's pulling back."

"JJ it's too early for you to already have been drinking, so what did you take that put that into your mind?" Emily questions, not giving a response to the idea thrown out by the blonde profiler.

"Emily, you can act like you don't want to believe it, but he's in love with you." JJ ignores Emily's question. "The real question is do you love him?"

"He's my best friend. Of course I love him, just like how I love you and Garcia and everyone else on the team."

"You know that's not the way I mean." Emily turns so she doesn't have to meet JJ's eyes. "He would throw himself in the line of fire to keep you safe."

"So would anyone on the team." Emily throws out as she looks out the window.

"But the whole team doesn't look at you like he does." JJ tries to catch her eyes, but she's staring down the pane of glass in front of her so she doesn't have to reveal anything to JJ. "So I'll ask again, do you love him?"

"There's rules about team members being together. So it doesn't matter if I do."

"See that's not a denial. Emily Prentiss, are you in love with him?" The question is repeated again and Emily finally turns in her seat to face her friend again.

"I don't know." Two sets of eyebrows rise up at the words that Emily never meant to admit out loud. "All I know is he's acting weird and I need to figure out why."

"And if it does have to do with his feelings for you, what then?"

"Even if it was, it wouldn't explain why he's acting weird now."

"No denial of his feelings for you either. I think someone is falling in love with Hotch." Emily's hand raises to brush the hair away from her face. She wants to crawl into a hole and never come out. But instead she's stuck in a car with a profiler that knows her too well. "Em, it's not a bad thing to have feelings for someone who clearly feels the same about you."

"There's nothing clear about how him and I now. He's acting weird-"

"Or he's distancing himself to avoid getting hurt." JJ says trying to remind her friend that there could be other reasons for his actions. "Maybe try talking to him when we get back?" They turn onto Main Street, knowing that the precinct is only a little bit from here.

"And say what?"

"Maybe try talking instead of avoiding your feelings." JJ suggests. "Cuz it's pretty clear to all of us that you're in love with him too." Is she? Could JJ be right?

"We'll be at work. Remember that place? The place where there are rules and regulations about teammates… dating?" The word feels weird on her lips in regards to her and Hotch, but she can't think of a better word.

"If that's what you want, do you really think Hotch would let rules stand in the way?"

"Last I checked he's not really the rules were meant to be broken type of person." JJ swings into an open spot in front of the station.

"I think you are an exception to any rules he has in place. Talk to him." She repeats as she turns the car off and hops out.

From across the precinct, Aaron tries to not let his eyes be drawn to the person they want to seek out as she walks back in the door. But he can't help but look up. The look on her face is the farthest thing from what he expected to see today. She looks… frustrated. Witness was probably a dead end. The team isn't making much progress on the case and Aaron had been hoping that this witness would bring something to the table to help them all out. Letting his head drop back to the papers in front of him, he hopes he can pretend to not be focused on her when she and JJ walk up to the table he's seated at.

"Hey, can we talk?" His head pops up, in surprise at her choice of words and then at the added surprise that JJ is nowhere to be found.

"Where's JJ?" He asks, trying to remain calm and not do anything else that will make him feel worse than he already does.

"Ladies' room. Can we talk?" Emily repeats her question that hadn't been answered.

"About?"

"This." She motions between them. "This cold shoulder you're giving me." His best friend calls him out.

"Emily, I don't think this is the time or place-" He tries to explain that it's not a good time to talk about this, but she cuts him off.

"Bull shit."

"Excuse me?"

"Bull shit." She repeats. "Now is the perfect time and place, because you can't push me off with someone else so you don't have to see me. And I want to know why." Her words come out harsher than she means for it. She wanted to bring up what JJ and her had talked about, but she can't mention any of it when he's literally still pushing her away.

"I'm not pushing you off on someone else. We have work to do Prentiss." She's going to hate him whether she knows what he feels guilty for or not, so right now, he'll stay in his Unit Chief persona.

"Fine, work to do. The witness was a dead end." She spits out before leaving the room where he sits. She goes to the one place he can't follow her.

"Ok, clearly that didn't go well seeing as you look more upset now than in the car." JJ's voice rings out against the ceramic tiles of the bathroom. "Want to talk about it?" She shakes her head but before she can stop it, her words are spilling out of her mouth.

"He's pissed about something. He has to be with how he's acting, but he won't talk to me about it. He says that we have work to do and that's why he's acting the way he is." JJ's eyes run up and down her friend's face. "I didn't do anything, so I don't get why he's pissed." The words escape her mouth quickly and in a harsh tone.

"Hey, I'm sure it's nothing. But maybe take a breath?" She wants to shake both of these people until they realize what's standing in front of them, but for right now, it might be more about making sure they don't blow up at each other during this case.

"Take a breath? Really?" Her dark eyes glare at her friend.

"Hey, I'm not saying what you said was wrong-"

"You were pushing me to talk to him and I tried and he won't even speak to me about it." Emily interrupts her friend. "I guess it doesn't matter how I feel about him, because he clearly feels differently." These two are going to run from each other before they have a chance to see how wonderful they could be together.

"Emily-"

"Just go JJ. I need a moment alone." Her words cut through the silence as they reverb off of the tiles. There are so many other words that JJ wants to say to her friend, but respects what she asks. Rossi is walking by the door as she walks out.

"Hey, do you know what's up with Hotch?" Aaron's oldest friend looks at JJ with confusion.

"I'm not even sure what you're talking about right now."

"The way Hotch is treating Emily? Something's off."

"He might just be having an off day." Rossi says with a shrug.

"But he's taking it out on Emily. If he was having an off day, he'd be like that to all of us, but he seems to be focused on pushing Emily away."

"I don't know. But he hasn't mentioned anything to me." Emily steps out of the restroom right after these words. "Emily, I was going to go get coffee. Want to come?" Emily glances between the two profilers and just shrugs.

"Why not?" She doesn't really want to stay where Hotch is anyway so an excuse to get out of the precinct she'll take. Morgan and Reid are still out, so it's just going to be JJ and Hotch, so maybe she can talk some sense into him.

"Our witness didn't-"

"I know. Prentiss told me." Hotch says quickly.

"What is wrong between the two of you?" JJ doesn't even try to stop the words from leaving her mouth.

"Excuse me?" Dark eyes meet blue ones with a challenging voice.

"Whatever it is that is making you act like this to her? It's clearly something between the two of you, since you're taking it out on her. But you're being a dick towards her." The words slip out before she can think twice about them.

"Excuse me?" His words are repeated but they have less anger fueling them and more confusion this time.

"Whatever it is that is making you act like a dick, you're hurting Emily." Aaron says nothing, so JJ continues. "She wants to fix whatever it is, but you won't even talk to her."

"I just spoke to her?" Aaron argues.

"You talked to her, not with her. There's a big difference." JJ pulls a case file from the stack in front of him. "Is whatever you're upset about really worth ruining your friendship?" She tosses out before flipping the case file open.

Ruining their friendship. Was he really doing that because of the guilt he feels? Yes he was a little short with her, but… His thought trails off as he realizes he's doing the completely wrong thing in how to handle this. He might blow any chance of ever getting his dream from last night to come true. He glances around the station, trying to figure out where Emily is. He should explain… Where is she?

"She's not here." JJ says, knowing exactly who he's looking for. "Rossi and her left."

He doesn't have a chance to talk to Emily the rest of the night. They found a breakthrough in the case and it left the team running around until the early part of the morning. He needs to let his team get some sleep before they have to be back in the morning. He'll try and catch her at the hotel? Maybe that will work.

But it seems like she doesn't want to see him. She purposely picks the SUV he's not in. And once they arrive at the hotel, she escapes to her room before he has a chance to talk with her. Without even going to his room first, he makes his way to her room on the third floor. He knocks on her door, but it doesn't swing open. "Emily, it's me. Can we talk?" He calls out softly as he knocks again, knowing it's late and people are probably sleeping. But there's no response from the other side of the door.

From through the peephole, she can see that he looks different than he did at the precinct earlier, but she can't- won't open the door. She's tired. She wants to just get her workout in and go to bed. Honestly she doesn't even want to work out, but she's not going to let herself fall off track. So instead of opening the door, she walks away and pulls out a grey t-shirt, workout pants, and tennis shoes. She here's him knock once more while she changes, but by the time she glances out the peephole again, he's gone. Grabbing her laptop, she makes her way to the gym on the ground floor.

It's cardio recovery today, and out of all the workouts, this one she'll manage on her own just fine. She ignores the text that appears on her lock screen.

**I stopped by your room. I was**

**hoping we could talk, or at least**

**get our workout in?**

She doesn't want to talk to him. Not after how snippy he was with her this afternoon, and especially when she has no idea why he's upset with her. He can do the workout on his own. He has her login information. He doesn't need her to workout.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised to find you here." His voice calls out from behind her. She doesn't say anything as she goes to pull up today's workout. What does she even have to say to him? "Are you just going to ignore me?"

"What do you want? Make up your mind. Because earlier you didn't want to speak to me and now you're acting like I shouldn't be upset with you when I don't even know what I did." Her words are harsh, but she's hurt. "I'm just trying to get my workout in so I can go to bed."

"I tried to come talk to you."

"I know."

"Em-"

"I'm going to work out. I'm not in the mood to talk right now." She hits the button to start the montage that she's not in the mood to see today.

"Can I work out with you?" His voice is quiet, like he's afraid of how she'll respond.

"You'll do what you want anyway, so who am I to stop you?" Emily snaps. She starts to follow the warm up that's starting on the screen and in silence, Aaron joins her. This is their most awkward workout to date, since the only sound is the audio of the workout. The forty minutes pass as they make their way through stretching, the actual workout, and then through cool down and more stretching. As the video closes, Emily reaches over and closes her laptop before pulling it into her arms. Without saying anything, she turns to walk towards the door to leave the gym.

"Emily, wait."

"For what?" She spins on her toes. "Four days ago you said you loved me. Today you act like I'm dead to you. And now you're acting like you care again. You're giving me whiplash."

"You didn't do anything wrong. This is all on me." Aaron says, hoping this is enough to get her to stay and talk to him.

"Then maybe next time, don't act like an asshole if it's all on you." With that, she's out the door. Clearly, today is just not his day.


	12. Chapter 12

Rolling over in bed, the body laying on the other side surprises her. First of all, she’s not currently in a relationship that should be expecting someone to be in her bed. Secondly, there’s only one person she would allow in her bed, but not at this point. Not after how he treated her yesterday. She would rather fight him than sleep with him. But part of her is happy to spend even a few moments with him, that hopefully won’t be a miserable moment. 

“Mmm, don’t get up yet.” His arm drapes over her midsection, pulling her closer to him. “The alarm hasn’t gone off yet.” Emily doesn’t say anything, but allows his arms to wrap around her. She can’t bring herself to pull herself from him, and instead allows herself to soak in the warmth of his arms. “Mmmm.” His lips press a kiss into her hair.

“We should get up.” Emily says, knowing that they need to go to their case soon anyway.

“It can wait. I’m happy right where I am, trust me.”

“Didn’t feel like it yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” His dark eyes look towards hers in surprise.

“Yes yesterday when you pushed me away because of something of it being ‘all on you’.”

“Em, did you hit your head? That was a year ago?”

“Did you hit your head?” She spins the question back on him. “That was yesterday.” She starts to push away from him and he pulls her back towards his firm chest. “Hotch-”

“Why must you call me Hotch again?” This question confuses her.

“What do you want me to call you? I always call you Hotch.”

“You haven’t called me Hotch in over a year. You’ve called me Aaron since we got together.” He leans closer to her ear before whispering his next sentence. “And I have to say the things it does to me to hear it off your lips.

“You’re weirding me out Hotch.”

“Em, really, what’s wrong?” His eyes search hers like he doesn’t understand where all of this is coming from.

“We haven’t gotten together?” She questions.

“It’s not April Fools, and pranks about our relationship seem much more up Morgan’s alley. So what is going on?” His eyebrows pull together as he asks. “Are you having second thoughts about our relationship?”

“What relationship?”

“Em, we literally celebrated a year together two weeks ago?” He looks her up and down. “I love you, remember?” 

“I remember you telling me that in your apartment, but besides that, there’s no relationship besides us being best friends.”

“I can reassure you, we’re definitely more than friends. Because friends don’t look at each other like we do, kiss like we do, fu-” Emily’s hand flies over his lips.

“Stop. We haven’t done that.” His lips kiss the fingertips covering his lips. Reaching up, his fingers lace around her wrist to pull her hand away from his mouth so he can speak.

“Emily, we’ve seen each other naked more times than I can count.” Her cheeks turn red as she thinks of her boss seeing her naked. His hand reaches up to caress her red tinged cheek. “Don’t get embarrassed. It’s the best thing in my life. I can promise you that.” He leans over to place a kiss on her lips. She freezes as his lips touch hers. He loves her. She knows this. He’s told her, many times. At her apartment, right now in her bed. He keeps telling her, so that she’ll hopefully believe it’s true. Maybe she has just been doubting something that deep down she’s known. So instead of pulling away like her body wants to do, she instead pushes herself into the kiss and feels his hands moving towards her sleep top. The top is pulled over her head and She feels the need to shy away as he sees the scars that are splayed across her abdomen, but then she remembers what he said. He’s seen them more times than he could count. It’s only the first time in her mind.

“So sexy.” He whispers as he kisses his way down her neck towards her chest. She can’t stop her head from rolling back as his lips place soft kisses on any patch of skin they can place themselves on. With her shirt gone, there’s nothing keeping him from worshiping her breast like he loves to. His head reaches down and- 

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Her hand reaches over and slams off her alarm before running through her hair. Did that actually happen? Was she actually having a dream about sleeping with Hotch? God, what was her mind thinking of? He’s her boss. No matter what he’s said to her or how she feels about him, she should keep it professional. How is she going to be able to look at him after how he treated her yesterday and then dreaming of him like this today? Fuck. No. Opposite of that. Clearly, she needs to get her head on straight.

Today is going to be a rough day if this is how her day started. She still has no idea what was wrong with Hotch yesterday, but unlike him, she will still aim to be professional today. She can only hope that he will be wise enough to send her off with other people throughout the day and not try and keep them in the same room. Glancing at the clock, she realizes she is up almost an hour before she needs to be. Why did she set her alarm this early? Work out, right. She wanted to avoid Hotch if she could. Pushing herself out of bed, she reaches into her go bag and grabs a workout tank, shorts and a pair of socks. She’d love to go on a run and avoid Insanity all together, but she’s not going to allow herself to quit now. Not when she’s almost two weeks through the program.

Making her way towards the elevator, she knows she has to pass his room and she is hoping that he’s not awake yet. Since they don’t normally work out in the morning, she’s betting that he’s not awake. But he could surprise her, so she tries to be as quiet as possible. She manages to get on the elevator without being seen by the man who she feels both embarrassed to have dreamed about as well as perturbed for how he treated her yesterday. 

Aaron can’t sleep. He knows that he has time. An hour and a half to be exact. But, he feels guilty and that is keeping him awake. Guilt for how he treated Emily is keeping him awake. He should apologize- maybe even explain. But would she understand? Or would it just blow any chance he would ever have with her? Lifting up from where he lays, he decides to put on the only non-work shoes he packed and decides to swallow his pride to go talk to her. She may kill him for waking her, but he has to fix what he did.

Knocking on her door, he hopes she will open it, but there’s silence from the other side. Could she be sleeping through his knocking? “Emily it’s me? Can we talk?” Still nothing. He knocks once more and takes in that she’s either still asleep or that she doesn’t want to talk to him. Or… a third option pops into his head. What if she’s not here? Could she have decided to get a workout in without him? Making his way to the elevator, he presses the button to call the metal box. Stepping on, he selects the ground floor and tries to not bounce as he makes his way down towards the gym. When he makes it off the elevator, he can see a familiar brunette head looking towards a laptop in the gym. “Am I allowed to join this workout?” He asks as he steps into the gym. And then he sees something he doesn’t expect- Emily jumps. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“What are you doing here Hotch?”

“Came looking for you.” Her eyebrows furrow. “I came by your room to talk but you weren’t there.” He explains, trying to not sound like a stalker but failing.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you want to talk?” Emily’s residual anger comes through her words.

“Because I hated how we left things last night.” Her eyes refuse to meet his and he hates that he made her feel like this. “Em, look I’m so-”

“Hotch, I’m trying to get a workout in. So either join in or leave me be.” Her words are harsher than he expects and he almost can’t believe it. She can’t just be angry with him for yesterday can she? Without giving him time to respond, she clicks on the next video and the montage starts up. They workout in silence again and the forty minutes of Cardio Power and Resistance passes quicker than either of them expects it. The only sound is the audio track of the video and the sound of their breathing. At the end of the stretching and cool down, Emily picks up her laptop in sweaty arms and turns to walk away.

“Emily, wait please.”

“Why?” She spins on her toes and her eyes still won’t meet his. And it clicks with him. 

“Wait, you had a dream didn’t you?” Her eyes finally meet his and there is a fiery passion behind them.

“So what if I did?” And then they go wide with a realization. “Hold on. A fucking dream? That’s what caused the bullshit yesterday?”

“Emily, I-” Aaron tries to backpedal, but Emily cuts him off before he can.

“You had a dream and you treated me like shit because of it. That’s low, especially for you.” She spits out. “At least I was planning on still treating you like a human being. Because that’s how I treat someone I love!” She’s so mad that she doesn’t realize what she just said.

“You love… me?” Aaron loses any fight he might have had with the words he had never expected to hear so soon from Emily. 

“I don’t know how I feel about you after knowing you treated me like shit because of your subconscious. Rot in hell.” She spits the words at him before sprinting out of the gym. She doesn’t even wait for the elevator. Fuck. He’s really messed things up now.


	13. Day Thirteen

_ Emily loves me. Emily hates me.  _ The words repeat through his head like a broken record. He’s really fucked it up with her. She barely made eye contact with him and was anything besides professional with him yesterday. He feels stupid for letting a dream get to him when she clearly didn’t let it get to her.  _ Emily dreamt about me _ . He can’t help but feel giddy as he thinks about Emily laying in her own bed imagining them together. Was she picturing them in bed, years from now when something has actually blossomed between them or was her’s of the steamier variety? He couldn’t stop himself from imagining different ways Emily could have pictured them together. And it made his heart soar, until he remembered that she wasn’t planning to tell him that she had dreamed about him.

Did she not mean to tell him she loves him? She was so clear that she doesn’t know how she feels about him now because of how he treated her. He rubs his hands over his eyes and stares up at the ceiling. They’re flying back to DC today and he has a feeling that he will be ignored the whole way back. The team has already figured out there is something off between the two of them, but he could give a rat’s ass about what the rest of the team thinks. Right now, he needs to get things back to normal with Emily, or better yet, get her back to being in love with him. 

Emily’s laying in her own bed a few doors down and she can’t sleep either. She’s pissed off and sleep won’t come to her. He was rude to her because of a fucking dream. How can he think that she would want to be with him after something like that? But a smaller, yet somehow still dominant part of her mind still whispers to her  _ you still love him though. _ And she knows her mind is right. She does love him, no matter what she said to him yesterday or how much she tried to ignore him for the better part of the day. Sitting up in bed, since she clearly wasn’t going to sleep any more, she runs a hand through her tangle of curls. She knows that she is going to see him on the plane today, but how do you address someone that treated you like garbage because of their own subconscious? How do you forgive someone, even your own best friend, for something like that?

The jet has an eerie level of quiet on it as they fly home.“So you pissed her off again.” Dave asks as he sits down next to Aaron.

“I’m not talking about it.” Aaron says as he flips open a file.

“I wasn’t asking. I’m stating. We all saw how you treated her two days ago and then she clearly was pissed off at you yesterday. So the question I have for you Aaron is how are you going to fix it?”

“I said, I’m not talking about it.” Aaron repeats, flipping over the page he was looking at. He knows Dave is right, but he needs to focus on something, anything, other than Emily, or else he’ll spend the whole flight home distracted.

“If you want to be anything more than just friends, you have to stop being stupid.” This catches Aaron off guard and he places the file he’s supposed to be looking at down and looks at the man sitting next to him.

“Excuse me?”

“We can all see what you want. We can all see what she wants. You both need to get your heads out of your asses and talk to each other.”

“I hardly see how any of that is your concern.”

“Your happiness is our concern.”

“Is it actually?” Aaron raises an eyebrow at his oldest friend.

“Yes. Now, how are you going to fix your stupidity so she can see that you’re going to make her happy?”

Across the jet, JJ sits down next to her brunette friend. “So do we hate him now?”

“Who?”

“Hotch. Clearly. He treated you like an asshole. Then you were ignoring him. So I’m just trying to figure out where in the girl code we are.”

“He’s still our boss-”

“But girl code trumps any of that.” JJ shrugs. “So tell me what we’re doing and know that Garcia and I are on your side. She's just waiting for one text and she'll freeze him out.”

“We’re not doing anything. I’m handling it myself. You’re going to keep treating him with the respect that your boss deserves.” Emily smiles at her friend. “I’m a big girl. I don’t need others fighting my battles for me.”

“I know you can kick other’s asses. I’ve seen you in action. I’m just saying you deserve to have some backup. Especially against Hotch.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine on my own. Promise.” Emily takes a sip from the coffee cup in front of her. “What I would love is a distraction. How about you show me some pictures of that beautiful son of yours?” A smile flourishes on JJ’s face and she reaches for her phone.

“That I can definitely do. Will just sent me some new ones.” She unlocks her phone and pulls up some photos that Emily hadn’t seen of Henry yet. It made her think of another little boy, but she pushes those thoughts out of her head as it just made her think of the father she doesn’t want to think about.

When they land, Aaron knows he needs to approach Emily, even just to talk about working out. He’s pretty sure she’ll tell him to work out on his own, but maybe just maybe he can convince her to work out with him. Which if he can get them in the same space for more than two minutes, maybe he can get her to listen to him for even a moment and start to fix everything. Maybe.

“Emily, a moment before you go.” Dark eyes meet blue eyes, hesitant to leave her friend with the man who had screwed so much up with her in the past few days. But the darker head gives a nod, letting her know she can handle this.

“What sir?” The words aren’t lost on him. His best friend hasn’t used his name in over twenty four hours. He misses it falling from her lips.

“I take it you don’t want to work out together tonight?” He asks softly.

“I barely want to look at you.” She answers honestly. “You have my log in. You don’t need me.”

“But I enjoy working out with you.” He throws honestly back to her. “Em, I think we should also talk-”

“Don’t.” She cuts him off before he can even get the thought out. “I don’t want to look at you. What makes you think I want to talk to you about anything?”

“Em,-”

“I have to go.” Emily turns to walk away when she’s turned back around by Aaron’s hand on her wrist.

“I love you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.”

“I’ll keep telling you I’m sorry until you know I am for how I acted the other day. But I love you. That hasn’t changed, not for me at least.” He hopes to hear an agreement from her but all she hears is four words hissed off her lips.

“Let go of me.” He releases her arm and knows he’ll be doing the workout in the privacy of his own apartment tonight. Emily turns away from him without anything and walks to her car. It’s Saturday and she just wants to get home and do her last workout before her rest day. She doesn’t have to see Aaron for the next two days since they’re allowed to be on stand down for a ‘weekend’ of sorts even though it will be on Sunday and Monday. She won’t have to deal with him wanting to apologize and maybe tell her he loves her during that time. All she has to do is hang out with Sergio, who really is the perfect man as she told him all those days ago. 

Part of her hates fighting with him. But a larger part hates how he treated her and therefore is fine with ignoring him as much as possible. However the smaller part of her is the part that constantly reminds her that she loves him too and that she can’t hate him forever or they will never get to be anything. As she turns out of the parking lot, she tries to rationalize with herself that she knows the smaller part of her mind is right. That loving him makes more sense than being mad at him. But she doesn’t have to get over being mad at him today. Today, she can be mad at him and that’s ok.

During the car ride home, she blasts some of the songs that usually brighten her mood and tries to let them calm her. However, all it does is make her think of the times that she and Aaron have danced in her kitchen while cooking food before movie nights or singing at karaoke with the team. So instead of making her mood happier, it just pushes her further into her funk. By the time she pulls into the parking lot of her apartment building, all she wants to do is get her workout over with, eat dinner, and curl up on her couch while watching some reality tv. 

Tonight is Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs, which will be torture on it’s own. The fact that she’s going through it on her own and won’t have Aaron to die alongside her is harder. Yes, she made the decision to go through this alone is her fault, but still, it was really going to suck. She decides to just get it over with instead of just dreading it. 

Aaron on the other hand is sitting on the couch looking at his laptop, knowing that he has to do the workout he doesn’t want to do. At least when he works out with Emily, getting to see her makes it better. Today there is no reward to the work out. He doesn’t want to do it. He could skip it. No one would know.  _ You’re being a coward Hotchner,  _ his brain is shouting at him, trying to get him to get up and move. He yearns to text Emily to try and get some encouragement, but he doubts he’ll get a text back or even words telling him to do it. Honestly he thinks he might get words telling him to fuck off if anything. Which if he’s being real, that might be all he deserves from her. So instead of texting her like he longs to do, he boots up his computer and brings up the work out. 

Across the city both of the agents bring up the work out and listen to the familiar montage play. Their trainer welcomes them to the work out that neither of them wants to do. Both of them are missing the person that normally does the workout with them. It feels like part of their routine is missing as they start their warm up and stretching. One pushes the though from their mind and pushes harder while the other welcomes the hurt that they know they deserve. His mind is filled with thoughts of her as he pushes through the moves that force the actions of his muscles. He’ll be sore in the morning. But he knows he’d rather be sore than regret not doing the workout in the morning. Plus at the end of the 54 days that are remaining he’ll get to take her on a date, which will really be worth it. Hopefully she’ll be talking to him at the end of those days. 

“Daddy?” Jack’s voice calls out from across the living room.

“Yeah buddy?” He tries to still hold his position as he replies.

“Is Miss Emily going to come over tomorrow?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“She said she would. Remember? To play.”  _ Fuck. _

“I’ll message her and ask. But we just got back from our case so she may need to move it to next weekend. Could we do that?” He looks over at the face of his son, hoping to see the face of someone who will understand.

“I guess.” He sees the disappointment painted all over Jack’s features. As the work out finishes up, he reaches for his phone. He knows he’s the last person Emily wants to hear from, but he will do anything for Jack.

**Jack was wondering if, since we’re back from**

**the case, you would be willing to come over**

**to play tomorrow.**

He doesn’t expect to hear anything, but his phone buzzes a few moments later.

**I don’t have anything on my schedule.**

**I guess I can come see my favorite Hotchner.**

Suddenly his entire mood is brightened. He’ll get to see Emily, even if she’s not speaking to him at the moment. Maybe he can fix everything.


	14. Day Fourteen

Fuck. Why had she said yes? She could have easily lied and said she needed to take care of stuff and then she wouldn’t have to see the person that she loves even though she’s angry at him. But she loves Jack Hotchner and she would do anything for him, even putting up with his father to make him happy. 

And that’s why she’s driving across town on a day that she doesn’t have work or a workout to do to the Hotchner household. To play. Maybe she can get away with playing with Jack and making the excuse of allowing Aaron to work on case files that he hasn’t had time while they’ve been away on the case all week. Maybe that would work? But knowing Jack, he’ll want to play with both of them and she’ll be forced to talk to the only person she doesn’t want to right now. She drags a hand through the ends of her hair. This can’t get worse, right? It’s just a play date, essentially. It’s not like it’s a date. It’s just spending time with Jack, who she would do anything for. 

She hits a red light and glances at her phone. There’s one text from Aaron sitting on her lock screen.

**If this is going to be too uncomfortable for**

**you, you don’t have to do this.**

**I’m not one to disappoint someone**

**like Jack.**

**I’m not saying you are.**

**I was just giving you an out.**

**I’ll be there in 20.**

She turns her phone over so she doesn’t have to look at the screen any longer. Her text messages are the most she has said to Aaron since their argument in the hotel gym where she admitted her own feelings to him. At the reminder of that her hand flies up to her face. Fuck. She had forgotten about that conversation partially. She had forgotten about the fact that she had revealed her own feelings to him. Granted she had said that she wasn’t sure how she feels about him after knowing why he treated her like he did, but still, she had said she loved him. 

The car behind her honks at her to alert her of the light changing to green. Her head flies up and she waves at them in the rear view mirror. She continues on her way, but instead of listening to Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box, her mind is hyper focused on replaying the conversation from the gym over and over again in her mind. 

_ “Wait, you had a dream didn’t you?”  _

_ “So what if I did? Hold on. A fucking dream? That’s what caused the bullshit yesterday?” _

_ “Emily, I-” _

_ “You had a dream and you treated me like shit because of it. That’s low, especially for you. At least I was planning on still treating you like a human being. Because that’s how I treat someone I love!”  _

_ “You love… me?” _

_ “I don’t know how I feel about you after knowing you treated me like shit because of your subconscious. Rot in hell.”  _

Had she really told him to rot in hell? That’s low especially for her. She had been mad, but he’s her best friend. How was he not mad that she said that to him? How was he not treating her like she deserved worse than how he was treating her?  _ Because he loves you,  _ her mind reminds her. She knows it’s true. They may not communicate the best at times, but they do love each other. He is her best friend, even if she’s pissed at him. She could picture a future with him- waking up in his arms, spending her weekends with him and Jack and maybe a smaller brunette child, growing old with him. This situation is a hurdle they are going to have to get over first, but she wants that. She wants a future with him. She knows it.

A Kind Of Magic shuffles on from her playlist and she can’t help but remember the day pre-Insanity when her, Aaron, and Jack were making pizzas in his kitchen and Aaron was singing along with her Queen playlist as it played the classics. Jack had giggled along as his father had shaked his hips and danced to get different ingredients from the fridge and cupboards. 

_ “Daddy you’re silly.” _

_ “Am I buddy?” Aaron flashed a smile at his son as the next song shuffled on. He had lifted the wooden spoon covered with sauce up to his lips as a sudo microphone. Emily had covered her lips to stop her own laugh from bubbling out.  _

_ “Hotch you’re going to get sauce everywhere.”  _

_ “It’ll clean up.” He said with a shrug before returning to the song. It had been Killer Queen if she remembers correctly. “She's a Killer Queen, Gunpowder, gelatin,” Placing down the spoon, he lifts Jack into his arms and starts to spin his son around to the lyrics and beat of the song. “Dynamite with a laser beam, Guaranteed to blow your mind, Anytime.”  _

_ “Dance with us Miss Emily!” Jack calls from his father’s arms and Aaron reaches a hand to her, shifting Jack to one hip. They spun around the kitchen to the beat of the song.  _

It had always been one of her favorites, how could she not like the classic, but this memory had made it in her top three favorite songs. Definitely her favorite Queen song. Especially when she heard the words rolling off Aaron’s lips. How could she not love it after that? How could she not love him? Fuck. She’s totally fucked for today. She’s going to forgive him by the end of today, she knows it. As she pulls off the highway, The Show Must Go On comes on and she listens to the beat of it all, tries to allow it to take over her mind instead of thinking of the one Hotchner that takes over her thoughts whether she allows him to or not. 

Pulling into the guest parking spot for Aaron’s apartment building, she puts her car into park and grabs her bag. She’s dressed casually in a t-shirt, cardigan, running capris, and tennis shoes, not knowing what Jack will want to do to play today. Some days playing meant Legos, other days playing meant soccer. It would be a literal hat toss to figure out what today was going to be. 

The walk to the Hotchner’s front door is quiet and Emily takes the moment of silence to prepare herself. She doesn’t know if she’s ready to see the man that she knows she loves. She knows she’s ready to see Jack; she’s always ready to see the little blonde eight year old that she loves. But dealing with his father is someone that she doesn’t know if she can handle. She doesn’t know what to say or how to act around him after the past couple of days. She knows she can’t just ignore him, because that will either confuse or upset Jack. So that means she needs to be at least civil with him, for Jack’s sake. 

Making her way to the front door, she reaches for it with a closed fist to knock, but finds her hand hesitating.  _ Just knock. The door won’t bite you, _ her door sarcastically says to her. Her knuckles rap the door three times before falling to rest next to her thigh. Her cheek is pulled in between her teeth as she waits for the few moments for the door to open. When it opens, she finds the eyes that have filled her dreams even though she wished they wouldn’t. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Come on in.” Aaron wants to just keep staring at the girl who has barely spoken to him in the past couple days, but he doesn’t want to leave her out in the cold. Spring has started finally, but the wind is still biting when you’re outside for too long and he won’t be the reason she’s out in it if he can help it. His son might make them go to the park, but the longer he can let her be inside, he will. “How’s your day been so far?”

“Fine.” She realizes that without asking anything back she’s coming off as kind of cold. “How about here?”

“Good, good. Jack’s been really excited about you coming over.” He flashes her a smile. Aaron tries to think of anything to say to her, but fails to as he stares at her face. The couple stand in silence for a few moments before they hear the pitter patter of smaller feet. 

“Miss Emily!” Jack’s voice bounces off the walls and he sprints down the hallway towards the brunette woman he’s missed.

“Hi Captain Jack!” She opens her arms to him and catches the blonde boy that was racing towards her. Aaron watches the interaction between the woman he’s in love with and his son. He would trust her with his life, but more importantly he would trust her with Jack’s life. “How’s life been treating you?”

“Good! I got a 100 on my spelling test!”

“Wow that’s so impressive. What is one of the words that was on your test?”

“Between.” Jack says proudly.

“Oooo. Can you spell it for me?”

“B-e-t-w-e-e-n. Between.” Jack smiles at her.

“Wow! Great job!” Emily’s smile brightens her whole face and she offers her hand towards the younger Hotchner for a high five. Jack high fives her and then gives her another hug.

“Daddy, what does bullshit mean?” The words leave Jack’s lips and both Emily and Aaron’s eyes fly to the eight year old.

“What- how- where are you seeing that Jack?” Aaron asks, trying to figure out where Jack’s getting this idea from.

“Miss Emily’s shirt.” Emily’s eyes go wide and Aaron’s follow suit. She looks down, not even remembering what shirt she put on this morning. She had just grabbed a shirt out of her drawer. It must have been one of the shirts Pen had bought for her. Fuck. It was- a black one that read in white letters ‘Nope, I checked my receipts. I didn’t buy any of your bullshit.’

“It’s a grown up word Captain Jack. Miss Emily forgot she had on a shirt that had it on.” Emily says, hoping to distract from the actual word.

“Oh. So I can’t use it?” Jack asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Not until you’re eighteen.” Aaron says. It went without saying that he still didn’t want to hear it, but if he said that, he had a feeling that Jack might still use it. 

“Ok. Can we go to the park?”

“Sure buddy. But you’ll need to put some shoes on before we can leave.” 

“Ok Daddy!” Jack runs up the stairs and Aaron doesn’t correct him this time since he’s still reeling over what just happened.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t look at what shirt I put on when I was getting dressed this morning.” Emily runs a hand through her hair as she mumbles out her apology. She just taught Jack bullshit, on accident, but still. 

“It’s ok.” Emily’s eyes find his and she sees he actually means it. “Honestly it’s not the first or the worst cuss word he’s ever heard. When he was four I hit my head trying to fix the pipes under our sink and shouted fuck. Still probably the worst thing he’s been taught so far.” Aaron shrugs. “I’ve lucked out that he doesn’t usually repeat the words I’ve told him he can’t use until he’s eighteen, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens when he hits his teen years.” The we’ll slips out of his lips before he registers what he just said to her. Will they see his teenage years together? He’s not even sure if they’ll see next week together with how often they’re getting in arguments. But he’d like to hope so.

“With how good he is now, I bet he’ll use that language just to get you back.” He can’t help but smile at the teasing he’s missed. He doesn’t have time to say anything else as Jack comes back down the stairs and grabs Emily’s hand. 

“Miss Emily, can we play soccer at the park?”

“Well I don’t see why not. How about we grab your ball so we can play?” Jack scoops up his ball from where it sits.

“I had a game yesterday while you and Daddy were at work.” Jack throws out.

“How did it go?” Emily asks.

“We won. By  _ two _ points.” Jack emphasizes how many points they won by.

“That’s awesome Jack. When’s your next game?”

“Next Saturday I think. But I think we have two instead of just one to make up for one that got rained out.”

“Will you let me know how it goes?” Jack nods enthusiastically. Emily’s interest in Jack’s life is one of the many things Aaron loves about her. The other women that he’s dated have been polite to Jack, he wouldn’t have continued dating them if they hadn’t been, but Emily is different with Jack. She actually cares. She wants to know about his life, his spelling bees and soccer games and is genuinely interested in the answers he gives her. Emily turns to Aaron and asks a question. “How far is the park from here?” 

“It’s close enough we can walk. Like ten minutes max. Unless you’ll be too cold.” He throws out at the last moment but she shakes her head.

“I think we’ll be good to walk, won’t we Jack?” He nods along and pulls her hand forward.

“It’s this way.” The walk is filled with Jack telling Emily, and by default Aaron, about his week. He had told his dad a little bit about his week, but there was a lot he hadn’t had time to tell him about in the short time between his dad getting home and Jack’s bedtime. By the time they get to the park, Jack points to a spot of grass where no one is playing. “Let’s play there.”

“Looks like a good spot Captain Jack.” Jack runs over to the spot and Emily and Aaron follow him close behind. 

“Daddy get it!” Jack shouts as he kicks the ball towards his father.

“Ok Jack.” He catches the ball with his feet and passes it back to Jack. Then Jack kicks it towards Emily, cheering as he passes it. The set of three continue this until Jack tires out. 

“I’m thirsty Daddy.” Jack whines slightly. 

“There’s a water fountain right over there.” Aaron offers a hand to his son and Jack grabs a hold. While father and son make their way over to get water, Emily leans over to pick up the soccer ball.

“Excuse me?” Emily turns around to see a mother and her young daughter, probably no older than four.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say you have a beautiful son, your husband and you.” The words catch her off guard. This woman though Jack was her’s?

“Oh, uh, thank you?”

“Sorry to disturb you.” She turns to leave. Emily wants to stop her and say she’s not, but the words are stuck in her mouth as if her mouth is glued shut with peanut butter.

“Who was that woman?” Aaron asks as he and Jack walk back up beside her.

“I don’t know.” Emily says with a shrug. “Just a stranger.”

“You’re not supposed to talk to strangers.” Jack says from beside her, reaching for his soccer ball.

“She just was telling me how handsome you were though Jack.” Jack contemplates that.

“Does that make her an ok stranger?” He turns to his dad as he asks this.

“I don’t want you talking to strangers still ok? But strangers talk to Miss Emily and me for work, so it’s easier to judge if they're bad or not. In this case, she’s ok, but that doesn’t mean you should go off with her if you see her again, understand?” She listens to the rationale that he breaks down to Jack and once again, she can almost imagine a dark haired child standing next to Jack listening to their Dad.

“Ok Daddy. Can we go home now?”

“Sure buddy, let’s go.” The three of them start to walk back to the apartment as the sun starts to lower in the sky. It’s almost dinner time and Aaron makes a plan in his head of what they can cook for dinner. There’s some pasta and sauce in the kitchen as well as some veggies and chicken that they can add to make it Insanity approved. He’s pretty sure that Jack will eat all of it too.

Upon arriving back at the apartment, Jack kicks his shoes off and runs off towards his room. Aaron makes his way into the kitchen to get some water on to boil. He’s not sure if Emily will stay for dinner or not, but he’ll make enough just in case. For all he knows, she’ll walk to Jack’s room and tell him goodbye while Aaron makes dinner. But Aaron is hoping that Emily will stay. Hell, he wants her to stay forever if he had his way.

“Need any help in here?” Her words catch him off guard, but he tries to act like they don’t.

“Uh, if you want to cut up some veggies, I was going to start cutting the chicken.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Pasta with chicken and veggies. One of the few dishes Jack will eat that meets the Insanity requirements. Sound good to you?”

“Sure. I don’t turn down free food.” For a split second she sounds like his best friend again and he smiles at that. “Something you want to share with the class Hotchner?”

“Nope.” He turns back to the fridge to grab out the ingredients they need. “You want to throw on some music while we cook?” He knows with nothing playing it will get awkward and him and Emily usually tend to agree on most music.

“Ok.” She pulls out her phone and clicks onto the playlist she had going in her car earlier and hits shuffle. Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys starts to play and Emily starts to sway with the music as she starts to cut up some tomatoes and zucchinis. This is one of the newer songs that has made it to Emily’s playlist, but Aaron doesn’t hate it. In fact he kind of likes it. Especially if it makes her smile like that. Like she knows a secret and she doesn’t have to share it with anyone else. She starts to hum along with the melody as she continues to cut the veggies on her cutting board. “Do we want to make a salad to go along with the pasta?” She asks, trying to get some more veggies on their plates.

“To be honest, there’s not much more veggie wise in the fridge. I was planning to go grocery shopping tomorrow while Jack’s at school.” Aaron answers as No Surprises by Radiohead shuffles on. “But there might be a can of mandarian oranges in the pantry we could do on the side of the pasta.” Aaron suggests instead.

“That’s fine with me.” Emily hits skip on her phone and Back in Black by AC/DC comes on.

“No Surprises is a great song.” Aaron says as the familiar chords fill the kitchen.

“Not disagreeing. It is on my playlist. I just want something more upbeat right now.” Emily shrugs as she explains her skip. “Want me to go check on Jack?” Emily asks as she’s finished cutting the veggies and there’s not much more on for her to do she thinks.

“He’s usually pretty good about playing by himself until dinner’s ready. You want to see if that water is boiling? And if it is you can add that pasta?” Aaron doesn’t admit that he’s too happy to have her talking to him once again. He’ll take this over her shutting him out like she has been the past couple days. So as Green Day’s Brain Stew starts playing, she makes her way to check the pot on the stove.

“Isn’t this just the same chords as Back in Black?”

“It’s in a different key. Who knows maybe they were inspired by the greats for it?”

“This is a live version of it, isn’t it?” Emily nods. 

“I take it you figured it out from the people screaming out the words during it?” Emily teases him as she says it. “I’d have to look at my phone to tell you where from, but I have a couple live versions of my favorite bands on this playlist. Keeps it interesting.” Since the water is at a boil, Emily adds in the pasta. Aaron washes his hands before joining her at the stove to grab out a sauce pan to cook the chicken in. The couple doesn’t say much more as they let the music play as they cook. As everything comes off the stove, Emily offers to go get Jack. 

She finds him in his room playing with one of his many sets of Legos. “What are you building in here?”

“A fire station. It even comes with a dog!” Jack holds the dog up so Emily can see it. “Do you think Dad would get me a dog?”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask him about that.” Emily doesn’t want to give Jack any false hope, but she’s also not sure how Aaron would react to the request of letting a pet join the family. She corrects herself- his family, not the family as if she was somehow a part of it. “But right now, it’s dinner time, so how about you go wash your hands and come join your dad and I at the table?” 

“You’re staying for dinner?” Jack sits up from where he’s laying on the floor excitedly.

“Yeah, did you think I would leave without saying goodbye?” Jack shakes his head. “Good. ‘Cuz I wouldn’t. So come on. Let’s eat!”

Dinner passes with easy conversation that mainly focuses around Jack and his school week that’s coming up. After dinner Jack asks if they can all watch an episode of Lab Rats, but when they turn on the TV, a new show called Liv and Maddie is on. “Do you want to watch this buddy or would you rather play with Legos before bed?” Jack who isn’t allowed to watch a ton of TV picks the show, even though it isn’t his first choice.

In his head, Aaron takes in how easy this all feels. Sitting on the couch, with Jack in between Emily and him enjoying a Disney channel show, this could easily become routine. But Aaron pushes that idea from his head before his subconscious can create any more dream material from this. He already got in trouble for the last future dream he had of her and he doesn’t want to keep fighting with Emily. There’s so many things he wants from her, if allowed, but fighting is the last of them after how the past two weeks have gone. Honestly, he’s not even sure what’s going on in the show since how far his mind has run, but he does notice when the TV says, “Next up, another episode of Liv and Maddie,” which if he hadn’t been listening Jack would have gotten double his TV allowance. But instead when the episode comes to an end, he turns the TV off. 

“Daddy can I please watch one more episode?” Jack pleads, apparently taken by the blonde twins on the TV.

“No sir. You get half an hour of TV. Now it’s time for someone to hop in the shower and then off to bed.”

“Can Miss Emily read my bedtime story?” Aaron wasn’t going to ask her to do this, but she steps in before he can say that she probably has things to do.

“Only if you go take your shower right now.” Emily smiles at his son who turns and makes a sprint down the hallway towards his room to get PJs and underwear for after his shower. 

“Make sure you actually wash your hair and your body Jack!” Aaron reminds his son. “You don’t have to stay Emily. It’s getting late. You’ve already spent your whole Sunday with us. You probably have stuff to get done.”

“It’s not that late for those of us that don’t have an eight year old. And anything I have to get done can wait until tomorrow. I already told him I’d read his story to him. It’s ok Hotch.” Her voice is calm and he’s not going to say no to her staying longer at his place. Instead he goes to Jack’s room and starts to pick up some of the toys that aren’t his current Lego set. Their rule about allowing current Lego builds to stay on the floor is still allowed. The other toys from this morning and afternoon are returned to bins before Aaron turns down Jack’s sheets so the young boy can hop into bed.

“What is he currently reading?” Emily’s voice catches him off guard.

“We actually finished reading the BFG last night. So he’ll pick a new book tonight.”

“Ah a Roald Dahl fan?”

“He seems to be liking him so far. We’ve read BFG, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach. He likes the illustrations the best.” Before Aaron can say anything else a freshly clean Jack comes into the room and scrambles towards bed. “Did you brush your teeth Jack?” He nods his head, smiling to show his dad his teeth. “So if I check your toothbrush…?”

“I used it! And toothpaste! Smell!” He leans forward to blow into his father’s face.

“Smells minty fresh. Good job.”

“What book did you want to read?” Emily asks.

“Can we read another book from that guy?” Jack looks towards his father for help.

“Roald Dahl?” 

“The guy that wrote the BFG.” Jack says, unsure if that was who he meant.

“Do you want to read my favorite one?” Emily asks him, reaching towards a book on his bookcase. Aaron would have guessed Matilda would have been her favorite, but now he’s wondering which one is.

“Which one is your favorite Miss Emily?”

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” She says as she shows him the yellow cover.

“What’s it about?” Jack’s head cocks towards his left shoulder. 

“Charlie Bucket's wonderful adventure begins when he finds one of Mr. Willy Wonka's precious Golden Tickets and wins a whole day inside the mysterious chocolate factory. Little does he know the surprises that are in store for him!” Emily reads the back cover to him, not wanting to spoil anything with her own thoughts. “Sound good?” Jack nods his head. She cracks the cover and turns to the first chapter page. “Chapter One. Here Comes Charlie. These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr. Bucket. Their names are Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine. And  _ these _ two very old people are the father and mother of Mrs. Bucket. Their names are Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina…” Jack listens and falls into the story of Charlie Bucket. He wants to know more about the little boy who reminds Emily so much of Jack. 

Aaron, on the other hand, falls into the sight of seeing Emily interacting with Jack. It makes him fall so much more in love with her. He wants this as an everyday thing, not just a once in lifetime experience. When she’s finished with chapter two, he knows Jack needs to go to bed, as much as he wants to let her keep reading. “Now what to do we say to Miss Emily for reading to us Jack?”

“Thank ‘ou Miss ‘mly.” Jack’s sleepy voice mumbles from where he’s curled into her side.

“Of course Jack.” She places a kiss on his forehead before placing the book on his bedside table. She then lifts him to place him onto his pillow instead. “Good night Jack. Sleep tight.” He curls into his pillow. Aaron makes his way over to kiss his son goodnight as Emily makes her way towards Jack’s bedroom door. Part of her tells her to make a break for the front door while she has the chance, but the braver part of her knows she and Aaron need to talk about everything that happened between them a couple days ago. So instead, after shutting the door behind them, Aaron and Emily make their way to the living room and sit down on the couch.

“Do you want to get our workout in?” He asks, trying to break the awkward silence between them. He is surprised she hadn’t tried to duck out now that Jack’s bedtime is finished, but he isn’t going to complain. However if there is a way he can get her to stay for longer, he will also do that too.

“It’s an off day. We don’t have to workout today.” He had honestly forgotten they had off days. The days of working out had honestly all started to run together for him. He can’t think of another reason to get her to stay, but she’s not leaving. There’s a palpable silence between them as he doesn’t want to push her away, but she isn’t saying anything else. Until out of nowhere she asks, “What’s your favorite Queen song?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Queen, you know, the band? What’s your favorite song of theirs?”

“That’s hard. They have a lot of good ones.” Aaron thinks about it for a few moments. “I’d guess it’s a three way tie between Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, and Spread Your Wings.”

“You went with two cult classics and then came up with Spread Your Wings? Why’s that?” A slight flush comes across his cheeks and he looks like he doesn’t want to say. “What did you dance to it at prom or something?” 

“No not prom. I, uh danced to it in my kitchen with the girl I’m in love with and when I looked over she had the happiest look on her face. It’s been in my top three since then.” Emily doesn’t say anything and he worries he’s said the wrong thing. So he decides to ask her favorites instead. “What about you? What’s your favorite?”

“Killer Queen is probably my number one. Spread Your Wings used to be my number one. But…” She trails off.

“But…?” he prompts her to continue, wondering what has the great Emily Prentiss biting her tongue.

“But that day in your kitchen changed my mind.”

Aaron wants to tease her, ask if it was his killer dance moves, but he knows they aren’t at a place that he can do that so instead he asks, “What brought this up?”

“Hmm?”

“What brought up Queen?”

“I was listening to it in the car earlier. Made me wonder.” Aaron takes this moment of Emily wondering about him instead of her hating him.  _ Rot in hell. _ The words ring in his ears as he remembers what she had said to him in anger. Maybe they can start to get past this now? She’s willing to talk to him, even if it’s just about his favorite Queen song. What’s not to say she’s not willing to talk to him about other things.

“Em,” She turns slightly to look at him with hesitation in her eyes that he can only see after knowing her for so many years. “I’m really sorry for my actions the other day. I handled myself in the worst way and I treated you the worst way possible. You were right, I was pushing you away, but you weren’t right in why I was.”

“So it wasn’t because you dreamed-”

“Ok, you were partially right.” He corrects himself, even though it means interrupting her.

She pursed her lips before saying, “Then explain why. Because your actions made no sense.” Her arms cross defensively, trying to protect herself from being hurt again.

“Because I thought you didn’t love me.” Her eyebrows pull together in confusion. “I had this amazing dream of us a few years from now, married, in love, and…” He drifts off, not knowing if he should reveal the last part.

“And?” He’s caught her attention at this point.

“And expecting a child.” He lets out after a moment of silence. He pauses to allow Emily to say anything, but only silence fills the air. So he continues. “I woke up from that and for a moment it felt so real that I just wanted to return to that. When I finally allowed myself to wake up completely, it felt like a piece of me was missing. You were missing. Our future child was missing. And then I had to remind myself that I didn’t know how you felt about me. And I felt guilty looking at you through the day, because any time I did I was reminded of that dream and it brought back all the feelings the dream brought up. So I pushed you away because if you didn’t feel the same way, I needed to allow myself to stop hoping you ever would.” He runs a hand through his short hair, the need to fidget growing stronger with each word that he lets out. “I know I didn’t choose the right path, I hurt you, and I chose the completely wrong way to show you that I love you Emily, but god Emily, I love you so much and in that moment I was so sure that you didn’t feel the same way.”

“You’re right.” He holds his breath, hoping she’ll continue and explain that it’s not that she doesn’t love him anymore. “You definitely chose the wrong way to show your feelings.” His eyes close as he releases the breath he was holding. 

“God, don’t scare me like that Em.”

“Did you think I was going to tell you I didn’t love you?” Emily asks, as she lets her arms uncross.

“Honestly, I’d deserve it if you did.” 

“I’ve loved men way worse than you Hotch.” She says with a smile before shrugging. “I think you’d have to do something worse to make me hate you.”

“You did tell me to rot in hell. That’s pretty hateful.”

“Honestly, that’s not the worst thing I know how to say in all the languages I know. It’s just one of the worst things I can say to my close friends.” The pair sits in silence for a moment before Emily speaks again. “Remember at the park earlier when the woman complimented Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“She thought he was our child. That you were my husband.”

“Oh.” Aaron doesn’t know what to think. Part of him loves that people that don’t even know them can see that they should be together. Part of him worries that Emily is going to be angry that this woman saw them as more than they are. “I’m sorry?”

“I’m not asking you to apologize for someone else Hotch.”

“Ok, then I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say, to be completely honest.” Aaron admits.

“I was telling you…” Emily trails off and Aaron is afraid that she’s lost the guts to tell him whatever it is that’s rambling around her head, but she starts again. “I was telling you because of what you told me about your dream. How you pictured us having a future together.” Aaron’s brows furrow.

“I don’t think I’m understanding Emily. Is it just because she saw us and thought of us being married?”

“Yes but also no. It also has to do with when you were explaining that she was still a stranger to Jack. I could…. I could almost picture another child next to him. A dark haired child next to Jack listening to…” her voice drops to where he almost can’t hear her mumble the last two words, “their daddy.”

“Are you saying you were picturing us having a child?” Aaron whispers his question, not wanting to scare her off when they’re finally getting somewhere after their argument.

“I don’t know.” Emily answers honestly. “Maybe.” She mumbles after a few seconds tick away on the clock in the kitchen. “I don’t even know what we are any more.” Her head falls into hands.

“We don’t have to be anything more than best friends until we’re ready for it.” He answers honestly, but also to see her eyes once again. She raises her head slightly, but still resting in her hands.

“Friends that just happen to have inappropriate dreams about each other?” She mumbles into her palms.

“My dream wasn’t inappropriate.” He starts to defend himself and then realizes she wasn’t talking about himself, but rather herself. “Why Agent Prentiss, wanting to sleep with your unit chief-”

“To be fair, he was my boyfriend in the dream.” Emily tries to defend herself as the red tinge comes over her cheeks. However talking about the dreams only makes them come back to the forefront of her mind. And it makes her wonder about something, how something would feel in reality instead of just in her dream world. So without thinking, she leans over on the couch and captures his lips with her own.

The air leaves his lungs as he realizes that Emily Prentiss is kissing him on the couch in his living room. Her lips caressing his own, far better than any dream kiss he could have ever imagined. He just told her they didn’t have to be more than best friends until they were ready for it, but after kissing her, could he really go back to just being best friends with her?

Fuck. She’s kissing her boss. The one she’s supposed to be pissed at. But it’s too good to stop. And when did her hands end up in his hair? Or more importantly, when did his hands undo her ponytail to curl into her hair? One of her hands drag down his shirt to where she knows his heart is and can feel how fast it’s beating beneath his shirt. She wants to feel the skin without the barrier of his shirt. So she reaches like she did in her dream last night to pull on it when a hand unravels from her hair to stop her.

“Em, Emily, we shouldn’t.” He breathlessly says.

“Aaron, I love you.” She says hoping it’s enough of an explanation. 

“Emily, not here. Not now.”

“I should go.” The shame washes over her as she tries to process what he’s saying.

“Em,” He catches her hand, but she pulls away from him.

“I get it. I’ll see you later Hotch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a doozie of a chapter! It literally took me days to write! I hope you guys enjoyed it! But I was going to drop here that I actually have a playlist of songs that I write to that I made inspired by Emily, so the link is here if any of you are interested. It's also the playlist I imagined them listening to in Hotch's kitchen. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1654OE3e74fkgFl634Wdnt?si=R_9rEMKXRHu8SURk0vqJeA


	15. Chapter 15

Emily had kissed him yesterday. That hadn’t been a dream. Emily had wanted to do more than kiss him yesterday. That hadn’t been a dream either. But then he tried to stop her. To tell her that he wanted to take her on a date. To woo her like she deserved. To start their relationship on the right foot, and she bolted. It’s only a quarter past seven now, but his mind won’t let him sleep. It can’t create anything better than the feeling of kissing Emily on his couch last night. So he’ll lay in bed and think about it until it’s a civil enough hour to call her and talk to her because he needs her to know he’s not ashamed of kissing her, more so he wants more than just a kiss and a one night stand. He wants all of her.

She kissed Aaron yesterday. Fuck. She wanted to do more than just kiss him yesterday and he stopped her. Fuck. He had told her not here, not now. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What the fuck did that mean? She tries to roll over and get more sleep but her mind is going a million miles a minute with all the reasons he wouldn’t want her and she can’t stop it now. She takes her pillow and covers her head with it. Tries to block out the sun and the birds that are chirping outside her window. _Just let me sleep_ , she pleads. It’s only seven fifteen, but she hasn’t slept much all night with thoughts of Aaron rejecting her filling her dreams and waking thoughts so maybe it’s just time to start her day. Sergio pads at her covers and mows to let her know that it’s time to be fed. “I guess you still are the only guy I need Serg.” She scoops him into her arms and pulls him back towards the bed where she won’t get any more sleep it seems.

Luckily, she doesn’t have to go into the office today and she’s not on call. So she doesn’t have to see the man who turned her down. She doesn’t have to make excuses or ignore him. She can just nurse her emotional wounds in private and can go into work tomorrow pretending like none of this affects her. But for today, if she wants to mope around and allow it to hurt her soul, she can. 

The only thing on her schedule is her workout and grocery shopping. So she’ll get both of those out of the way and then she can have her pity party for the rest of the afternoon. Seeing that grocery shopping will take the longer amount of time out of those two, she decides that she should feed Sergio and then workout. If her day count is right, it’s time for the fitness test again. And hopefully she’ll see some improvement. She’s been busting her ass for the last fourteen days, so she should see some improvement, but she’ll take even just one more on each of her numbers.

Aaron gets Jack out the door with minutes to spare before the bus leaves. It’s not late enough to consider it that much more civil, but he can’t wait any longer. He needs to call Emily. To be fair, this is more civil than the hours their cases usually call them, so he can only hope that he’s not waking her. 

Why is he calling her? She stares at the photo on her screen. They’re not on call, so it can’t be a case. He can’t honestly be calling her about anything else work related so the bigger part of her wants to not pick up. But there is a smaller part of her that is honestly curious as to why he would be calling her at this time on a Monday morning when there’s not a reason to be calling her. But that’s not the part of her that sends him to voicemail. Apparently he’s not patient enough to leave a message.

**Call me when you have a chance.**

**Also we need to get our fitness**

**test in today**

**I was about to do it.**

She was hoping that this would get him off her case, but instead her phone goes off again with a call. She wants to send him to voicemail. She almost sends him to voicemail, but she knows he’ll just keep calling her. “What Hotch?”

“Can I come over and join you then?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Emily pulls on the hem of her tank top as she says it. The idea of looking him in the eyes doesn’t feel like something she can do today.

“Why not?” Aaron’s voice is laced with confusion. Clearly he thought she was just going to invite him over.

“I think you know why.” Emily’s voice is barely louder than a whisper.

“Emily, it’s a workout. Nothing more.”

“Clearly, it’s nothing more.” She mumbles. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She repeats a little louder.

In the background she can hear his car door slam. “I just dropped Jack off at the bus stop. I can be over there in less than thirty minutes. ” He pleads. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She repeats again. She doesn’t think she can handle looking at him after he turned her down last night, but he’s slowly wearing her down. If he asks one more time, she’ll probably say yes.

“Please?” He just wants to see her. Wants to explain everything. Honestly he’ll even just take a workout at this point. Anything to see her and know that she’s not shutting him out again. He needs to talk to her. This not communicating isn’t working and he’s sick of it. 

“Fine. You can come over to work out.” She makes herself clear. She doesn’t want to see him, but the fit test will take half an hour and then he will be out of her hair for the rest of the day. They can work out and then she can kick him out to get her grocery shopping done. “But that’s all we’re going to do.” She tacks on in case her last sentence wasn’t clear enough.

“Ok, Emily. I hear you.” He runs a hand through his hair. There’s so much more he wants to do with her, especially after their kiss last night, but it seems like him trying to slow them down has turned her away from him again. Fuck. He has to, no he needs to fix this again, because he needs Emily to be a part of his life. He thinks to himself as he turns towards the highway to make his way towards her apartment. 

On his phone, he clicks on the playlist that is filled with music that makes him think of her. It’s filled with Queen, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain to name a few. Most of it is songs she’s played from her own playlist but some of it has been songs he’s chosen to add too. Killer Queen shuffles on and he remembers how she said it was her favorite Queen song last night because of him. He has an influence on her just as she does with him. He allows some of his favorite memories of her to play in his mind but unsurprisingly, last night’s kiss fills his mind, her hands reaching for his shirt, wanting more than just a kiss. Why hadn’t he just gone with it? He could have woken up with her in his bed this morning instead of with her pissed at him this morning. 

Or would she have left before any of that? He can’t help but imagine all of the possibilities that could have happened. _Stop Hotchner. You fucked that one up._ His mind wants to push more what ifs into the forefront of his mind, but instead he tries to focus on the music and not allowing any other could have beens to appear. And I Love Her by Kurt Cobain comes on. It’s not wrong. He loves her, so much so that the idea that he might have lost her with his stupidity last night hurts him. The guilt rises in his throat like bile. Will he lose her because of this?

Loser by Beck shuffles onto play. He remembers Emily singing along to it in his kitchen one of the nights they were making dinner together last summer. She seemed so much more carefree when they were doing that. He wants that more than anything. He wants carefree days with her, making meals, planning the day to day together, going to Jack’s soccer games, laying in bed together at the end of the night. He has to fix this so they get their happily ever after. 

As he pulls up to her apartment, he feels his stomach drop to his feet. There’s two ways this could go. One way is that they fix everything. The second way is that nothing gets fixed. Or… he realizes the third way is that things get worse, which with how everything has been going between them lately, that seems more likely than everything else. He prays to any and all Gods that it’s the first way. That’s what he needs right now. He needs them to work this out.

Standing in front of her door, he wants to knock but his hand won’t move. It won’t reach forward and tap on the oak of the door. It’s more hesitant to break the calm, to bring forward the woman he might lose if he steps into her doorway. But he forces his hand up to rapt on the door. He stands staring at her door in silence. She could just leave him out here, but after a few moments, the door swings open. “Hey.” She says softly and the words wrap around his heart.

“Hey.” He repeats and longs to wrap his arms around her midsection, pulling her into him. But her arms are already there and shout ‘don’t touch me’. 

“Are you going to come inside or are you going to stay outside all day?” Emily asks. Aaron takes this invitation to step inside her door frame and step closer to her. But Emily steps away from him and backs into the main room of her apartment. 

There’s a stench wafting through the hallway. It hits him like a slap across the face. It was like the smell of anchovies mixed with… something else that he couldn’t place. “What is that smell?” He can’t help but ask.

“Sergio got sick, but I can’t figure out where. Trust me if I could I would have cleaned it up” Emily apologizes. The suspect in question comes and rubs himself around Emily’s ankles. She picks him up and holds him close. “I’m just hoping it was on the hardwood and not on the carpet.” She scratches him behind the ears.

“Is he ok?” He knows how much Emily loves that cat. If he’s sick, she’ll be worried sick.

“He just ate his food too fast. It’s not the first time it’s happened. But I’m hoping soon it will be the last time it happens.” Sergio twists in her arms and jumps for the floor, wanting to explore his kingdom. “How was your morning?” Emily asks, trying not to be too cold.

“Jack spent all morning trying to convince me we need a marmoset and then almost missed the bus.” Emily’s brows pull together.

“A what?”

“It’s apparently a really small monkey that Reid told him about and now he’s convinced it would be the perfect pet since we live in an apartment.”

“Are monkeys even allowed as pets in Virginia?” 

“According to Reid according to Jack, yes.” Aaron shakes his head. “Never going to happen though.”

“It could be really cute.” Emily shrugs.

“Until I’m the one taking care of it all the time. Plus didn’t you watch the episodes of Friends where Ross has a monkey? That didn’t look like fun.” Aaron wants to keep this going. He loves being able to banter with Emily. 

“A cute little baby monkey with a diaper on would be very cute.” Emily says thinking back to the Friends episodes she watched during her JTF-12 days. Turning her head, she sees where her laptop is sitting on her yellow living room chair and knows they should get on with the fit test. “We should get our fit test done.” Since they had been bantering, Aaron was hoping that she would almost forget about the fit test and continue on like this. He doesn’t want to do their test and get kicked out at the end of it, which is what he’s guessing will happen since she hasn’t yelled at him yet. 

It would be all too easy to keep up the easy chatter with him, but she knows that won’t be good in the long run. Hell, it would be easier to grab the hockey puck from her shelf and throw it at him, but she doesn’t want to hurt him. What she wants to do is get this fitness test done and move on with her day. Go grocery shopping and not think about Aaron Hotchner. 

Emily pulls up the video they had watched on Day One and they get ready to start the fitness test all over again. “Three, two, one and go!” The workout continues as Emily and Aaron go between different exercises with the video. After each minute, Aaron calls his number out to Emily who jots it down. The first half of the workout, Aaron is distracted by Emily and the situation at hand. However then he realizes he wants to impress her so he starts pushing harder.

“Inhale up, exhale down, let’s start to cool those muscles down.” Both Emily and Aaron are dripping with sweat as they cool down with the video. That workout had killed them both. They could both feel their aching bones but the stretches felt so good. Aaron flexes his hamstrings along with the instructor and feels the pull that he hasn’t felt since he was training for the triathlon. They do a couple more stretches before the time on the video runs to a close.

Emily glances at the numbers on her phone. “Trying to let me beat you today?” She teases.

“Or you’re just getting better from the last two weeks.” Aaron says, not wanting to admit he had been distracted by her. 

“Well I beat you on Switch Kicks, Power Jacks, and Power Knees. You beat me on Globe Jumps, Suicide Jumps, and Push Up Jacks. But I snatched the win from you on Low Plank Obliques. “ Emily says with a smile before wiping a bit of sweat with the hem of her tank top. “Well I should go take a shower. I need to go get groceries.”

“Running out of everything like I am?”

“Mainly just veggies and fruits. I really want asparagus, bananas, and eggplants. Not all together though.” Emily clarifies with a shrugs. She turns to head towards her bathroom to grab clothing for after her shower when Aaron calls after her.

“Emily, can we talk please?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’re just meant to be friends. And that’s fine.” 

“Fuck this not communicating. And I don’t just want to be friends with you Emily. I thought I made that clear to you last night.”

“Yeah, no. You made everything clear as mud last night.” Emily’s arms return to cross against her chest. “I think you should go.”

“And what will leaving do?” Aaron demands. “We never talk about things that matter Emily.”

“What was last night?”

“An exception apparently. But you would rather run from the things that scare you then realize that something better might actually be standing right in front of you.”

“Something better? Really? That’s what you call kissing someone and then pushing them away? Because I call that bullshit.” Emily’s eyes are lit with the passion her words are fueled with. 

“God damn it Emily I wasn’t pushing you away.”

“Really? Because I was throwing myself at you and you literally said not here, not now. How is that not pushing me away?” Emily hisses. “You shut it down last night. I got it loud and clear Hotch. I laid my heart on the line last night and you pissed all over it. Message received Hotch.” Emily turns away from him to walk away, but feels the room spin as he pulls her back around.

“Message not received.” He says as he places his lips on hers again. He doesn’t have the right words to tell her exactly how he feels, but he hopes he can show her. He throws all his feelings into the kiss, tries to replicate exactly how she makes him feel. 

She doesn’t want to, but she finds herself falling into the kiss again. After him pushing her away last night and then kissing her again, she’s not sure what all this means, but starting her morning with kissing H-Aaron, she’ll take it. Hell she would have stayed the night and woken up with kissing him if she could have, but then again… wait that’s how they ended up in this situation. She pushes against his bicep. “Stop.” She whispers as she pulls away from him. “What are we doing?”

“Kissing?” He states as if it isn’t obvious enough.

“Not funny. I kiss and you push me away. Then we fight and you kiss me. You’re giving me whiplash. I think you should go until you figure out what you actually want.” Emily says as she untangles herself from his arms.

“Emily-”

“Just go Aaron.” And hearing his given name off her lips hurts. “Close the door behind you.” She turns and walks away from him. He thought he was going to fix all of this today. He knows what he wants. He knows what he wants!

“You.” The word bounces off the walls of the apartment, but it makes her turn around.

“Excuse me?”

“You said I should go until I know what I want, but I already know what I want. You. You’re all I want and all I’ll ever want.” He states, taking a hesitant step towards her. “I don’t have to go away from you to figure that out because I know that.”

“Then why do you keep acting like you don’t know?” She asks, clearly confused by their actions.

“Because I don’t want just one night with you. I can’t have just one night only.”

“Is that all you think I want?” The words are sharp as they leave her tongue.

“That’s what it felt like.”

“Why couldn’t you just voice that instead of being an asshole?”

“Why didn’t you let me explain instead of running away always?”

“I’m not running away. I’m distancing myself from... “ She trails off without finishing the thought. But Aaron wants to know. He wants to know what she’s afraid of when it comes to him or anything else in this world. 

“From…?” He prompts. She takes a deep breath through her nose before continuing.

“From an explosion that’s inevitable. We’re not a good idea being anything other than friends.”

“You don’t know that unless we try it.”

“And what happens when our friendship blows up in our faces?”

“I won’t let it.”

“Really? Because that’s all that’s happened for the past two weeks. I cherish you as my friend too much to risk it.”

“You sound like you’re making a bunch of excuses Emily. First you said it was because you didn’t know what I wanted. Now you’re saying you’re worried that we’ll implode. There’s two of us here Em. We can make it work if we work together. Can we try it.?” Her upper teeth pull her bottom lip in. 

“I can’t risk it.” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. Just go, please.” And although it kills him too, he walks out her door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this can tide all of you over for the next week! I'm in finals week for my semester so while I will try to write to stay up with Camp NaNoWriMo, I will probably not be posting until next Tuesday or until all my finals are over-whichever comes first! Also my friend challenged me to include 7 (or technically 8 words since one is two words lol) random words of her choosing- if you guess them you get a golden Hotch statue.  
> Lizzy


	16. Day Sixteen

Emily wakes up feeling more exhausted than when she went to bed. The past two weeks has been nothing but arguing with Aaron and dealing with feelings that have been filling every crevice of her soul. Part of her wants to just accept that her and Aaron might have a chance some day. But part of her bites into the sour likelihood of the harsh realities of a relationship with a coworker. Sure, could there be some good points to them dating, like spending time with Jack or how electric a physical connection between the two of them could be, but if the fights from them not even being together are this bad… she doesn’t want to even try imagining how explosive their fights would be if they got together.

Aaron stands in front of the mirror holding up the two different ties. He wants to pick the one he thinks Emily will like the best, even though he can’t force her into anything better. Better. Huh. If only that were true. All they’ve done is fight for the past couple weeks.  _ Pick the blue one. _ Emily’s voice fills his ears. He places the red one down on the bed, before tying the blue one around his neck. What he would give for Emily to be here, tying his tie or just being here instead. But yesterday had given him a clear perspective on where she stood. She wasn’t in a place that she would trust him with her heart and clearly that isn’t a possibility right now.

From his office, he can see her sitting at her desk, fidgeting with the trinkets that sit on her desk top. Clearly things are bothering her, but feeling like he’s the one causing her to fidget instead of being her normal cool, calm collected self, he doesn’t feel like he can talk to her about it. If anything they’ll just end up arguing again and it will divide them more than they already are. So instead of walking down to talk to her like he would have two weeks ago, he picks up the file sitting in front of him and dives into that instead.

She’s going mad. The man sitting in the office above her is filling every thought she has and she can’t make it stop. Their fights replay in her mind and she can’t focus on the work she should. Part of her wants to go and talk with him. Part of her knows that’s mere madness. So instead, she decides the best plan of action is to get a second set of eyes on the whole thing. Maybe talking to one of her best girl friends is the best idea. But she doesn’t want this getting to the entire team so there’s only one person she should probably talk to about it.

“Hey JJ, can we talk?” Emily peaks into the office and notices Morgan and Reid standing in her office. “Or I can come back…” She motions towards the door.

“Feel free to join us Prentiss.” Morgan waves her into the office.

“Yeah, we’re good listeners.” Reid says from where he sits on he sits on JJ’s desk.

“Oh, uh this was more of a girl problem.” Emily doesn’t want to explain the whole situation between her and Aaron to the whole team. Hell, she barely wants to explain it to her girlfriends, who are not always likely to keep what she says a secret. But between the choice of JJ and Pen, JJ is more likely to actually keep this a secret.

“What sort of girl problem?” Reid asks, the doctor side of him creeping out. Emily doesn’t answer but instead raises an eyebrow.

“Do you really want that answer?” JJ asks in response.

“Boy Genius, I think that’s our cue to leave.” Morgan points out, taking a hint from growing up with sisters. He knows he doesn’t want to hear anything about any kind of girl problems.

“But Morgan, I can help.”

“Pretty Boy, let it go.” Morgan pulls on the younger man’s arm and leads him out of the room, shutting the door behind them. 

“So…” JJ’s blue eyes look at the woman who’s worn for wear. “What’s going on? You’re not pregnant are you?”

“With how many cobwebs are down below? No definitely not.” Emily sits down in the chair across from JJ’s desk.

“You know there doesn’t have to be any down there. We know there’s at least one person who wants to help take care of them.” JJ says with a smirk.

“Yeah that’s also a problem.” Emily mumbles before taking a sip of the coffee in her hand.

“What’s the problem? That he wants to take care of it? Or is there something I don’t know?”

“It’s been a very long weekend.” Emily says with a shrug, suddenly self conscious. 

“It was two days.” JJ glances over her friend, noticing the pink tinge to her cheeks. “I think something happened. So want to talk about it since I think that’s why you came in here?”

“I kissed him.”

“Who?”

“Aaron.”

“So now we’re on a first name basis with Hotch?”

“When you tell him you love him, I think you kind of have to be on a first name basis.” Emily says as her cheeks grow hotter.

“You told him you love him and yet you still have cobwebs down below? How does that work out? I would have thought he would take you to bed immediately.”

“So would I.” Emily can feel her cheeks going yet another shade of pink darker as she admits, “But I tried to take him to bed and he said not here, not now.”

“Well that’s not a no.”

“But it’s pretty damn close, because all he thought I wanted was a one night stand.”

“After you told him you loved him?” JJ asks, voice filled with confusion from Emily not telling the story completely.

“I told him I loved him after he said no.”

“First of all he didn’t say no-”

“He said not here, not now. That’s basically a no.”

“Secondly, I think you need to start from the beginning and explain everything.” So Emily started from the beginning of the story of Aaron admitting his feelings. She explains every confusing moment to her closest girl friend and explains all the moments that are completely ruining her heart. She repeats all the things that are ripping her apart on the daily and spills them for JJ to hear. “I don’t know what to do.”

“He’s right about one thing.” Emily’s brows furrow in confusion. “You’re making a lot of excuses on why you can’t be with him. It sounds to me like you’re trying to run. He’s the best possible thing you could have, not only for clearing cobwebs, but in general. He’s your best friend and let me tell you from being in a relationship with my best friend, it’s the greatest thing that you can possibly do. So why are you running from it?” Blue eyes search brown ones, looking for an answer that the trained spy doesn’t want to give up, but she will.

“I don’t want to lose him. If everything goes wrong, I can’t lose him in my life.”

“What if everything goes right and you get the best possible thing?” JJ poses the question and Emily has to think about it. Her brain has been throwing the idea of losing Aaron so many times that she hasn’t really thought about the idea of getting a real relationship with him. “What if you get a relationship with your best friend? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“It could be?” Emily can’t answer as a definite thing since she’s still afraid of losing him forever. 

“Emily, you're both in love with each other. Why wouldn’t you work with that instead of against it? Why not take a chance that something wonderful could be happening?”

“Because-”

“Give me a reason besides the chance of losing him.”

“But…” Emily trails off as she can’t come up with a different answer.

“You’ve already voiced that concern and it’s valid, but you can’t use that as your only reason. You told me you love him. You told him you love him. Love is stronger than the solitary chance that you might lose his friendship. Love is worth taking a risk. So what else is stopping you?”

“I...I don’t know.”

“Is there anything else stopping you?” JJ calls her bluff. “Because I think the two of you could be one of the best things known to mankind. But if you’re letting one solitary fear stop you, you’re letting the best possible thing be ruined. You love him Emily. Let that mean something. Or else…” JJ trails off.

“Or else?”

“Or else you need to accept that you’re losing so much more than just your friendship.” JJ points out. 

“How can I lose so much more than just friendship by not doing anything?”

“You’re losing the possibility of gaining so much more. You’re breaking both your heart and his by not giving a chance. And that’s just the start.” JJ ticks off her fingers as she counts off the things Emily is losing. “Is that really what you want?”

“No.” She whispers.

“Then why not give it a chance?” Emily doesn’t have a chance to knock as Pen knocks on the door. 

“Am I missing a meeting of the girl club?” Emily shakes her head.

“Just catching up about the weekend.”

“Well you’ll have to put a pause in it. We have a new case.”

“Is it local or are we leaving?” JJ asks.

“Local.” Pen starts to spin on her blue heels. “I’ve got to go round everyone else up, but we need a girls night soon to catch up on everything yes?” Both heads nod. 

“Sure Pen.” Emily says. She knows Pen will grill her on why she wasn’t invited to catch up too, but she’ll deal with that problem later. 

Getting home after eleven, Aaron doesn’t even think about texting or calling Emily, for a multitude of reasons, but the main one being how late it is. Their case had taken the better part of the afternoon dealing with the men that had been taken and killed for the past eight days but now they had one that was missing but hadn’t been killed yet. They had spent all afternoon and evening chasing leads on his life and where he might be. The last known footage they had of him was of him in a parking garage leaving work eighteen hours ago. All Aaron wants to do right now is crawl into bed and sleep, but he knows he has to get his workout in. So instead of laying down and not getting up until morning, he reaches for a set of workout clothes.

Across town, Emily glances at her phone, surprised to not hear from Aaron. Even when they’ve been in their arguments, he’s not given up on their Insanity workouts and the likelihood of them doing the workouts together.  _ He’s probably giving up on you. You told him you can’t risk it. _ Her hand reaches to rub across her temple and she almost wishes that he had messaged her to even ask just to work out. A smaller, still hopeful part whispers  _ maybe he just wanted to get home to Jack. It is late on a weeknight. _ Reaching into her drawers, she grabs out a tank top, a pair of shorts, and slips her tennis shoes on. She just has to get through Plyometric Cardio Circuit and then she can take a shower before going to bed.

Neither brunette is really wanting to workout, but they hit play and wait through the montage that they are too familiar with at this point. Through the warm up, the stretches, and the actual workout, both find themselves looking and almost wishing that the other was in the room with them so they could at least have someone to groan about the workout to. But the time continues even though they are alone and dealing with feelings that have nothing to do with the workout. Aaron wipes the sweat away with the sleeve of his t-shirt while Emily reaches for the water bottle that she had left on her coffee table. The workout is over, but both are still feeling the empty hole from the missing other. Emily glances at her phone once again, but finds no message waiting for her. She should give herself time to second guess it, but she hasn’t talked to him all day and she can’t help it. It takes only a few seconds of her fingers tapping against her screen before she hits send.

**I miss my best friend.**

Aaron glances at the message but doesn’t know what to say. He misses her too, more than he should because not only does he also miss his best friend, but he misses his heart which resides with her. So instead, he just doesn’t say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Week one of finals is finished and I'm not totally dead after paper writing so I actually got some writing done! Enjoy this new chapter! 
> 
> Lizzy


	17. Day Seventeen

_ I miss my best friend. I miss my best friend. I miss my best friend. _ Her text plays over and over again in his mind. Is he being a shitty friend for distancing himself from her? She told him she can’t risk herself being with him so he’s distancing himself from her because of that. But it’s only been a day of not spending as much time with her and it hurts. He misses her too and he wants to be better for her, for him, for them. God he wants to fix things. He wants to make it so they can be best friends without hurting each other, he wishes they could be together in the way that he wants them to be, but it’s clear from the past two weeks they’re causing more problems than anything. So if he has to hurt her a little more now to make it better in the long run, then to quote her favorite author, so it goes. But goddamn it, he misses his best friend too. 

He glances out his window and sees Morgan discussing something with Emily and it makes him miss her more. Even when she’s only a few hundred feet away from him. His body wants to pull her into his arms and never let go, but his mind knows keeping her out of his reach is the safer option. So instead of moving from his spot, he looks back towards the evidence in front of him. The team is all working on the case they're working on, but being the Unit Chief, he has to continue on with making sure that other things don’t slip through their grasp while they focus on this singular case. 

Emily glances up at Aaron’s office as Morgan walks away with their latest idea on how to catch their unsub. She could honestly give two shits, maybe one if that. Right now, she solely cares about Aaron. He hadn’t ever replied to her message last night, not that she’s entirely surprised, but she had hoped. Part of her wonders if she’s lost any chance of fixing things with him. Part of her says there’s no point in fixing it. But she needs too. Regardless of what they said about love or not, he’s her best friend and she can’t lose him over this. She’s trying to sort out her heart, think about what JJ said to her, what Aaron said to her, but she knows the most important part is not losing him. She needs him in her life. And if she has to swallow her fear and be the one to approach him, she will.

She takes the steps one at a time towards his office. She never understood how some of the men in her life will take steps two at a time- the one time she tried, she ended up flat on her face. Taking a breath, she knocks on Aaron’s open door. “Come in.” He says without looking up from the file in front of him. She takes two steps into his office before turning and shutting the door behind her. Her heart has suddenly moved into her throat, but she tries to ignore it as she moves towards the center of his office. He finally looks up from his file and notices the brunette that, whether he wants to admit it or not, he had been ignoring. “Do you have a new lead Prentiss?” Ouch, he hadn’t called her by her last name in a while. Just when she had stopped calling him by his, he reverted back to his old ways.

“Do you have a moment to talk Aa-Hotch?”

“If it’s about the case, sure.” He places the case file down flat.

“I think you know that’s not why I’m here.” She says softly.

“Prentiss, I think it’s better that we spend our energy on the case. It’s time sensitive.” 

“When I approach you off the clock, you don’t respond. So my choice is on the clock.” He focuses on keeping his face calm, not wanting to show a reaction to her words. “Give me five minutes, that's all I’m asking. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“I am.” He says, not wanting to relinquish that position yet.

“Then can you treat me like it? Look I get it, my actions, my words, they haven’t been what you wanted to hear, but you’re pushing me away this time. You said you wanted us to communicate, that’s all I’m trying to do.”

“Fine.” He says, but the word comes out shorter than he means for it.

“Fine what? You know you’re pushing me away or fine you’ll communicate?” She asks, trying to be as clear as possible for once.

“Both I guess. Emily I’m just trying to do what you wanted.”

“I never asked you to push me away.” She says softly, not wanting to start an argument but not quite knowing where he’s coming from.

“But you said you cherish our friendship too much to risk anything more-”

“So you’re getting rid of it?” Emily asks, not understanding.

“You already took my heart. I have to get some space from you before I’m too far gone.” The words hurt, but it’s the first time his actions make sense. “I need to distance myself from you if we want to stay best friends.” He looks at her and sees a spark of something in her eyes. “That is what you want right?” 

_ No _ her mind whispers, but that whisper doesn’t reach her lips. “Right.” Aaron feels his heart fall a little farther into his gut. He had hoped that spark was her accepting that they could be something more, that they should be something more. But why would her answer have changed in one day? Why is he hoping for something that’s never going to happen?

“So I think we need some distance from each other. As much as we can with everything.” He waves a hand around his office as he speaks. 

“So are we calling it quits on our bet?” As the words leave her lips he thinks about how hopeful he had been when he suggested it sixteen days ago. He had hoped by the end of all of this, she would feel the same way as him if she didn’t already. He had hoped that by the end of their sixty seven days, he would be able to take Emily on a date, a real date. But now he doesn’t know what to say. So he just let’s his mouth do the talking instead of his mind.

“I think we should just do our workouts separately for a bit of time.” 

“Better that way. Got it.” Emily’s hand reaches up and runs through her curls. God he loves when she doesn’t straighten her hair. When she allows her hair to sit naturally, he just wants to run a hand through it-  _ Stop Hotchner. She doesn’t want you like that,  _ his mind yells at him to stop thinking about the girl that is supposed to be his best friend and nothing more. But even with his brain yelling at him, it doesn’t stop his mind from wandering. Touching her face, running his fingers through her hair, kissing her face, her neck, her lips… any where he could touch. He let out a cough to cover his embarrassment at his wandering mind. 

“Was there anything else you needed Emily?” He asks, to try and distract himself from the images flowing through his head that makes his pants feel as though they’ve shrunk two sizes. 

“Guess not. I’ll go run the latest lead with Morgan.” She says before turning towards the door. He wants to stop her, wants to pull her into his arms and kiss away the disappointment in her voice, but he knows it’s neither the time or the place and Emily might kill him if he did. If anything, letting her walk out of his office is probably the best thing to do right now.

_ Let her go if you want to save your friendship Hotchner _ , his brain reminds him why he’s doing all of this. Why he’s pushing her from him when all he wants to do is pull her closer. His head falls into his hands though as he struggles to keep the images of her from inside of his head. All he can think about is having her in his life, in the day to day aspects of it, seeing her interact with Jack and having her dance around his kitchen as they make meals together- it’s all he actually wants and knowing that he has to push her away because she doesn’t want it hurts his heart and soul. 

Leaving Aaron’s office, she walks back into the bullpen, dragging her heart behind her. It shouldn’t hurt this badly. This is what she wanted after all, right? So why does it feel like her heart was left in his office as she leaves to go find Morgan? As she turns the corner to leave the bullpen, her phone goes off. She glances at the screen to see that her mother is calling. What could she want? “Hello?”

“Emily, it’s your mother.”

“I do have caller ID.”

“Then didn’t I teach you better manners than to just answer  _ hello? _ to any person?”

“Mother, I’m at work. Did you need something?” These conversations with her mother remind her why she normally sends her mother to voicemail.

“I’m calling to remind you about Saturday.”

“Saturday?”

“This is why I’m reminding you. It’s the Ambassador’s Ball? You promised you would be there.”

“No, I promised I would try. Remember I have a non consistent work schedule? There is a chance that I will be out of town.”  _ Please let me be out of town _ Emily prays, hoping some god hears her.

“Well it’s four days away. I would hope you would know if you’re going to be in town or not. It’s bad manners-”

“Mother, I could literally be called away Saturday morning. That’s just how my schedule goes sometimes.” Technically, if they haven’t wrapped up this case they’ll be working that, but she doesn’t want to explain that to her mother right now. “I do have to get back to work though. Just have your assistant send me the info that I need.”

“You were sent an invitation weeks ago Emily.”

“Right, but the likelihood that I know where that is right now is slim Mother.” She sees Morgan walking towards her and she holds up one finger towards him. “I have to go.”

“I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Saturday, maybe. Bye.” Emily shakes her head as she hangs up on her mother.

“What’s happening Saturday?” Morgan cocks an eyebrow as he asks.

“Nothing.” Emily sticks her phone into her back pocket. “Do we want to go run that lead about Matherson’s business partner?”

“I can run it with Reid if you need to make your plans for Saturday.” Morgan’s eyebrows waggle at her.

“I’m not the one that has to make the plans. Let’s go.” She says to her partner.

He hadn’t been following her. He’ll swear on that until his dying day. He needed to go talk to Garcia, still does to be honest, but he didn’t want to awkwardly have to pass Emily when she had left him a few moments earlier so he was going to wait out her and Morgan walking towards the elevators. But who the fuck did she have secret plans with on Saturday? Who was she willing to go on a date with, when she wasn’t willing to go on a date with him? She was willing to risk her heart with someone else, she’s just not willing to risk it with him? That’s absolute bullshit and yet it hurts more than just being turned down by her.

The anger simmers in him and he wants to smash something. Why isn’t he worth her risking her heart? It can’t just be because he’s her best friend or she never would have told him that she loves him, she wouldn’t have kissed him on his couch. There  _ has _ to be something else going on here. And he’ll be damned if he isn’t going to figure it out. He’s caught serial killers. He’s profiled psychopaths. He’s solved cases harder than figuring out Emily and her mind. But for today, he’ll just focus on getting through the rest of the day, getting his workout in, and not thinking about why she won’t date him specifically. 

The day passes without them talking to each other, besides in a group setting where they basically have to. On Emily’s part, it’s more because she’s out running leads with Morgan and then JJ and even Spencer at one point. But Aaron isn’t even making eye contact with her. It almost feels like they took another step backwards. She runs a hand through her hair as she sticks the key into the lock on the front door. She had been hoping that them talking in his office would fix it so they could at least be friends or friendly, but did she push him farther? God, this fucking sucks. 

She doesn’t want to work out. She doesn’t want to even sit on her couch and distract herself with reruns of Friends. What she wants to do is go over to Aaron’s house and drag him to bed and fuck out their frustrations with each other. Is it fair to either of them? No. Is it lining up with what she told him only a few days ago about where her risk factor level is? Not at all. But she needs him. She wants him. And she doesn’t care how. She doesn’t care what the risk is to her heart, she needs him in her life after getting him so involved in her life for months and then him shoving her out as if she was expected to jump from a plane without a parachute. 

_ He didn’t do this, you did, _ her brain reminds her. She’s the one who told him that she couldn’t be with him in a relationship way, so why should she get him in a sleeping with him kind of way? He deserves more than someone who wants him solely for his body. He deserves someone who can be there for all the ways that she wants to want to be there- the soccer games of Jack’s, parent teacher conferences, movie nights, date nights, road trips, so much more. But then her mind is reminding her of what comes from her- international terrorists and going on the run. 

Her hand drifts to her abdomen where the scar covers the place where abs will never be. She can train all she wants, but the reminder of that night in that warehouse will always be there, reminding her of everything that could always be lurking behind another corner, just from another criminal. No, she shakes her head, Aaron deserves better.

So instead of reaching for her phone or her keys to find a way to be in touch with the man she’s missing, she turns to go get workout clothes instead. She needs to purge these thoughts from her head. If she pushes herself hard enough, maybe she’ll forget everything else she wants. Reaching into her drawer she pulls out a black tank top. When she reads the words on it, she almost rolls her eyes with how ironic the words are. ‘Squats Deeper Than My Emotions’- there aren’t truer words to be spoken about her workout tonight. That’s how she plans to treat it. Workout harder and deeper than her emotions are treating her. Her emotions are threatening to break her down if she spends much longer thinking about any of it. So she doesn’t think about anything as she strips her work clothes from her body and replaces them with the black tank, a pair of shorts and slides the tennis shoes on. 

Returning to her living room, she looks to where her laptop sits on her living room chair. She hadn’t moved it after yesterday’s workout, so hopefully it still has charge so she can do today’s. Although, if it didn’t maybe it would be a sign from some god somewhere that she wasn’t supposed to do this, or that she was supposed to do something- or someone else- instead. But her thoughts that there may not be a god come back to her as her computer blinks to life with half a charge still on the machine. Of all the days she would love a sign from someone, she just can’t seem to get one. Maybe she’ll just need to rely on herself instead of looking for shooting stars.

Clicking on the link for Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs, she waits for the montage to start like she normally sees. But instead of it starting, the video just sits and buffers. The circle spins and spins and she wants to just hit the computer for stalling her. But instead she just hits refresh on the page to see if that will fix the problem she’s having. She wants to see if clicking one button, changing one action will fix the bigger problem. And it does. The montage starts. Shit, is this symbolism for her relationship with Aaron? One small action will change the big picture?

She shakes her head to try and stop focusing on her emotions again. Instead she throws herself into the warm up, stretching and then the actual workout. She doesn’t let herself think about her emotions, her fight with Aaron or his lack of fighting for her anymore. She just pushes as hard as she can through each and every move so that by the end of the work out she is drenched with sweat. Even wiping at her face with her tank does little to help with the sweat. It takes away one layer of sweat, but more sweat immediately runs down her face. She needs to take a shower, go to bed, and hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished all my final stuff that's due this week so I thought I'd celebrate by giving you guys another chapter! I have one last paper left but I figure I'll work on that this weekend and then we can get back to regularly posting!  
> Lizzy


	18. Day Eighteen

He wants coffee. Or even a shake with coffee. He’s not that picky. Without it, he feels like he would become a criminal to get his caffeine fix in, but he just saw Emily going towards the break room, and he can’t bring himself to be in the same space as her right now. Especially knowing that she is willing to risk her heart on someone that isn’t him. Thinking about whatever crackpot it is that she is willing to risk it all on instead of him, makes his temper boil up inside of him. All he wants to do is storm down there and demand she tell him who is worth her time or claim her lips and never let her go. But all that will do is push her farther from him than she already is.  _ I miss my best friend _ . Her words ring in his ear and he knows he needs to let this go or he’ll never be the person she wants as even a best friend.

A knock on his door pulls him from his thoughts. Rossi stands in his doorway. “I’m sick of having to do this.”

“Having to do what?”

“Having to fix the two of you.”

“What are you talking about?” Aaron looks at the man standing across his office. He knows, he’d have to be stupid not to know, but he’s not going to admit it.

“We’re not going to play this bullshit game. You’re pushing her away. You’re going to lose her if you’re not careful.”

“I don’t have her to lose.” He mumbles before his brain can catch up with what he just said.

“All the more reason to not push her away. If you want the chance to have her in your life, you need to get your head out of your ass and work for it.”

“Did you ever think that she doesn’t want me?” Aaron mutters, the words slicing his hearts into shreds as he says them.

“How could she not? She’s in love with you. It’s clear to all of us.” Aaron wants to disagree with that, but she said the words to him and he won’t let those be taken away for anything. It’s his only saving grace right now. She loves him, even if she won’t act upon it.

“I didn’t say that she didn’t love me. I said she doesn’t _ want _ me.” Aaron emphasizes the point. “There’s nothing I can do to change her mind.”

“So you’re just going to give up on her?”

“I’m not giving up on her. I’m letting her go. I’m doing what she asked.” Aaron spits the words out, feeling the bile rise with the reality of his situation. He’s losing her. He’s doing what she wants. And it shouldn’t hurt as badly as it does, but hell it hurts. It rips at his soul like it’s being torn into a thousand pieces.

“When have you ever been the type of person to just let go of someone? You’re the kind of person to fight for the people you love. What makes her different? Why aren’t you fighting for her?”

“She told me that we can never be. Who am I to tell her otherwise? I am doing what she asked.” He repeats. Normally David Rossi would keep fighting him, but they’re interrupted by their case. A motorist was seen driving Matherson’s car so they have a new lead to follow, but Aaron doesn’t think this conversation is over. Not by far. If Rossi had a slogan, it would be ‘want me to leave it alone? Don’t bet on it.’

It’s not until he’s alone in his office later that night that he really gets to thinking about it all. He really is losing her. Which is what she wanted, but didn’t. She wants him to be her best friend, but won’t trust him with her heart, while his is one hundred percent hers. He’ll probably never see his heart again, it will always be her’s. But that isn’t his biggest regret. His biggest regret is that she’ll never want him the way he wants her. She loves him, but not in the same way that he loves her. She loves him. The words bite his insides with the fact that they’ll never mean what his do. Maybe he needs something that has a stronger bite, like that bottle of scotch he’s been saving in his bottom drawer. Something to help him forget that strangers can become best friends as easily as best friends can become strangers.

Emily finishes off her final case file, most likely for the night. They had wrapped up the case this afternoon, catching both their unsub and rescuing Matherson. She finished her write up of it almost an hour ago and had spent the rest of her time working on other files to fill the time until Aaron left. But something was off with his routine. It is nearly seven and he is still in his office, the lights turned down, but the door shut, unlike when he leaves for the night. She may have to suck it up and face him. She doesn’t have much more that she can work on without being stuck here for hours, and she’d like to get home to work out before it gets super late.

Lifting her case files in her arms, she makes her way towards Aaron’s office. She can see him through the cracked blinds of his window, but he doesn’t seem to be working. He almost looks like he’s holding a glass in his hand. Holding her breath, she places her hand against the door and knocks before her nerves can stop her. “Comein.” His words run together but still give her entrance to his office. She opens the door and braces herself for whatever is waiting behind the door. What’s waiting though is different than she expects.

What she sees is a man that looks ages different from her best friend. His face is down cast towards the glass in his hand, and the few lamps in the room cast shadows along his face that make him look centuries older than he is. His shoulders slump downward, almost as if he has been beaten. His whole position screams defeat, even though today was a win in their books. “Are you ok?”

“Why do you care?” His head lulls from side to side as his hand spins the glass slowly.

“You know why I care. You’re my best friend Aaron.” His eyes roll, something that is more her than him and it makes her freeze in her steps across the office. This behavior scares her if she’s being honest with herself.

“Ah yes, your  _ best friend _ . The only fucking thing I’ll ever be.” His words are angry and she can’t seem to figure out why. Emily doesn’t respond to that. How can she? She doesn’t know how much of this anger is his actual feelings and how much of this is fueled by the scotch in his hands.

“I should probably go. I just came to drop off my case files.” She almost makes a comment about how late it is when his voice cuts through the tension in the room.

“Stop coming back.” He mutters and that catches Emily’s attention. She knows he isn’t talking about work now.

“Never. You’re my best friend. I’m not giving up on you just because you’re pissed at the world and you won’t tell me why.”

“I’m not pissed at the world.” His words come out seething and she doesn’t believe him.

“Then you’re pissed at me and I don’t understand.” She speaks softly, hoping to keep this calmer than they’re previous talks had been.

“Maybe that’s because all you do is think about yourself and not how your actions affect others.” Aaron says, not even looking at her as he shoots his dagger made of words at her heart. “Just go away.”

“I don’t understand where this is coming from.” She sits down hesitantly in the chair across from him. She had been trying to keep her distance from him for this reason, she didn’t want to hurt him. She wanted to keep things from emotionally stabbing him in the back and she wanted to protect his heart from being torn, but apparently, she had messed up. “But I’m sorry, for whatever I did.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix everything.” He hisses out.

“I know that. But I’m hoping it’s a starting place.” She wants to grab his hand, get him to look at her so she could see the emotion in his eyes, in his soul, but she’s pretty sure her hand touching his is the last thing he wants from her. “Aaron, please just talk to me.”

“What good does talking do for us?” He finally looks up at her and she sees that he’s not hurt, he’s not angry; he’s broken in a way she’s never seen. “All it does is get us into arguments that leave both of us drained and leaves at least one of us hurt. Leaves me hurt. I’m over it.” It clicks with those words. She’s losing him and if she doesn’t fix whatever she did or said, she may never have a chance with him. She’s going to lose him before she even has him.

“I don’t want to argue with you. I never do. It hurts my soul to argue with you. I want to fix whatever I did. Aaron, I’m sorry.” He doesn’t look at her but instead looks at the tumbler in his hand filled with the amber liquid. She hadn’t seen him drink at work in forever, but especially since they started Insanity, he hadn’t touched alcohol. So whatever she has done has broken his soul so much that he stopped caring. He’s given up. He’s given up on more than just her.

“I tried not to fall in love with you. I really did. Because you deserved- you deserve better. But I couldn’t fucking stop it. You smile at me and I fall deeper in love with the way your happiness radiates off of you. And it hurts me to know that you won’t give it a chance. So I tried to pry myself away from you. But then you came in with your text messages about how I wasn’t being your best friend by doing that. I don’t know how to be your best friend and not be in love with you Emily.” He throws back the bitter amber liquid that remains in his glass before speaking again. “You’re destroying the pieces of my heart that are left.”

“Aaron, don’t do this to yourself. Don’t destroy yourself because I can’t be what you need.” Emily doesn’t know what else to say.

“Destroy myself? You think that’s what I’m doing? No, that’s what you did to me.” The words whisper off his lips, and it hurts more than if he yelled it at her. “Why can’t I be what you need?” 

“Aaron you’re more than enough. It’s one hundred percent me that needs to change my ways.” Emily says, hoping that even as he’s drinking he hears her words. It’s her, not him, that’s the issue here.

“You’re perfect to me. You don’t need to change. You never needed to.” He whispers. “I would have waited for you. I still will.” He slurs ever so slightly, but the words mean more to her than any sober words from any other man ever have.

“You will?” She asks hesitantly.

“I hate waiting. But if it’s waiting for you, I’ll wait for forever. Just say the word and I’ll be there.” He replies honestly. She knows it’s wrong to make him wait for something she may not ever be ready for, but at the same time, she knows she’s not that far from being ready for him any more.

“Wait for me.” She whispers, before standing up to leave.

“Where are you going?” He asks looking up at her with hooded eyes, heavy from all the alcohol.

“Home. I need to still get a workout in. Do you want me to drive you home?” They may be in limbo in regards of are they friends or if they can be something more, but she’s not going to leave him to drive home when he’s clearly been drinking for a while. Drinking for a while over her.

“I’m fine.” The words slur off his lips.

“No you’re not. Get your things. I’ll drive you.” He shrugs but reaches for his suit coat and drags it over his arms onto his shoulders. She grabs his briefcase and his phone from his desk and he walks up next to her, only stumbling slightly. “How long have you been drinking up here?”

“Not long.” That’s a bold face lie, but she’s not going to call him on it. Right now she just needs to get him to her car and get him home. They walk mostly in silence to her car and she gets him inside her passenger side. Taking a deep breath, she climbs into the other side. All she has to do is drive him home. He’s drunk, so there’s a chance he might even fall asleep on the drive home and it will be a quiet ride that won’t be as awkward as she’s dreading. “Emily?” He calls to her as she buckles in.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” He says as he leans his head against the window.

“I know you do.” She looks over at the man sitting in her passenger seat. “I love you too.” She whispers. As she backs out of the spot she thinks over the words. It’s not the first time she’s said the words, but it’s the first time that she realizes the magnitude of the words. She wants to spend the rest of her life with him. It wasn’t just talk to ask him to wait for her. She’s not ready yet to tell him that they should give it- give them a try, but she doesn’t want him to find someone else. She doesn’t want to look for someone else. She wants him. She wants him to be a part of her life. He’s the only person who will ever hold her heart like he does. He’s the only one who’s ever fought for it like he has. So why is she pushing him away? 

She’s never seen him like this after a day in the office. Normally, if they drink enough that he’s this tipsy, they’re celebrating something. Normally, she would think he could handle himself, but not in the mood that he’s in. She tries not to think about the fact that she made him like this. It’s her fault that he drank so much at the office nonetheless.

She didn’t notice that her phone connected to her bluetooth, continuing her playlist from this morning. But as Back in Black by AC/DC starts playing, Aaron turns up the speaker and sings along. She had thought he was going to be sleepy drunk at this point but apparently not. 

_ “Back in black _

_ I hit the sack _

_ I've been too long I'm glad to be back _

_ Yes, I'm let loose _

_ From the noose _

_ That's kept me hanging about _

_ I've been looking at the sky _

_ 'Cause it's gettin' me high _

_ Forget the hearse 'cause I never die _

_ I got nine lives _

_ Cat's eyes _

_ Abusin' every one of them and running wild _

_ 'Cause I'm back _

_ Yes, I'm back _

_ Well, I'm back _

_ Yes, I'm back _

_ Well, I'm back, back _

_ Well, I'm back in black _

_ Yes, I'm back in black” _

“You not going to sing along?” He asks, suddenly distracted and no longer singing along with the music.

“You seemed to be pretty good at the solo rock concert.” Emily says as she taps her steering wheel ever so slightly, hoping that the light will turn green so she can continue on her way towards his apartment. 

“That’s only because this is a great solo. Where’s your phone? I’ll pick a better duet song?” Aaron asks, holding his hand out for her phone. She holds off for a moment, but his hand is still outstretched, waiting for her to hand him her phone. So she reaches into her pocket and hands him her phone. She’s about to tell him her passcode when he types it in and unlocks her phone.

“Since when have you known my passcode?” 

“It’s your birth year. It’s not that hard to guess.”

“Just for that, I’ll change it.” Emily replies, staring at the road in front of her, the street lamps cascading along the road as she goes.

“I’ll still be able to guess it.” Aaron says before adding, “You’re my best friend. I know you.” His words may be drunken, but the truth is there. He knows her. He scrolls through her playlist and clicks on a new song, cutting off Creep by Radiohead. Under Pressure by Queen comes on and Emily can’t help but let the smile that’s been threatening to release since Aaron said he’d wait for her appear on her face. Of course he’d pick a Queen song to listen to after their talk the other night, or maybe he just really likes Queen.

_ “Mmm num ba de _

_ Dum bum ba be _

_ Doo buh dum ba beh beh _

_ Pressure pushing down on me _

_ Pressing down on you, no man ask for _

_ Under pressure that burns a building down _

_ Splits a family in two _

_ Puts people on streets _

_ Um ba ba be _

_ Um ba ba be _

_ De day da _

_ Ee day da, that's okay _

_ It's the terror of knowing what the world is about _

_ Watching some good friends screaming _

_ "Let me out!" _

_ Pray tomorrow gets me higher _

_ Pressure on people, people on streets _

_ Day day de mm hm _

_ Da da da ba ba _

_ Okay _

_ Chipping around, kick my brains around the floor _

_ These are the days it never rains but it pours _

_ Ee do ba be _

_ Ee da ba ba ba _

_ Um bo bo _

_ Be lap _

_ People on streets _

_ Ee da de da de _

_ People on streets _

_ Ee da de da de da de da” _

Emily can’t help but join in with him. She loves this song, but she loves the sound of his deep bass with her more soprano voice. The rest of the song continues, and she feels a lot of the tension that had been living in her shoulders for the past few days let go. She can be herself with Aaron. She always has been able to. As they pull up in front of his apartment, she’s almost sad that she’s dropping him off, but at the same time, what else can she do? Invite herself in? There’s nothing more for her to do right now. The music plays as they sit there for a few minutes, Aaron not realizing that they’re at his apartment.

“Aaron, we’re here.”

“Where?” He turns to look out the window and sees the familiar shapes of his apartment building. “Oh, home.” He doesn’t make any moves to get out of the car but says, “Guess I should go.”

“Yeah you probably should.” Emily says, without any real emotion behind it. If things were different, if she were different, maybe she would ask to follow him in. Maybe she would have taken his home remark differently. But they’re not there yet. She’s not there yet. And it would be worse to lead him on then to wait until he’s ready. And he said he would wait. For her.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Aaron says, the slurring in his voice cut down since leaving the federal building.

“Bright and early. I’ll text you later tonight about what time to pick you up.”

“Picking me up?” Aaron looks at her, questions written across his face.

“Your car is at the federal building, so unless you’re wanting to call a taxi to take you to work…” She trails off. It’s his decision ultimately, but she’s the one who decided to take him home so she feels the need to offer him a ride to work. Otherwise, she’s causing more problems for him.

“I guess we’re going to be carpool buddies.” Aaron says calmly, the anger he had earlier left in the federal building.

“Just don’t be upset with me when you have a hangover in the morning.” Emily realizes after she says it that technically the hangover would be her fault.

“I make no promises,” his voice calm as he picks up his things. Honestly if she’s going to take him to work in the morning, he could have just left everything, but he doesn’t. There still has to be a level of professionalism, right? “I’ll see you tomorrow Emily.”

“Bye Aaron.” Aaron gives a wave as he shuts the door and starts to walk, or well stumble back towards his apartment. She watches as he makes his way to his building's front door. After that, she can’t see anything, but she has hope that he’ll make it inside. It may take a few tries to get his key into the lock, but he’ll be ok, she’s pretty sure about that. He’s drunk more than how much he’s had tonight, she knows that from being with him when he did, and he was fine. So once she sees him safe inside the building, she switches the car back into drive and makes her way back towards the highway.

She lets the music fill the car as she ponders over what has happened today. She knew that Aaron would have waited had she asked for it, but she didn’t think that he would sit around his office drinking because of her. His physical and mental health was declining because of her. She lets a hand run through her hair as the other remains on the steering wheel. What had she done to him? How can she become a better person for him? Right now, she can only think of how she needs to get home, workout, and get some sleep before tomorrow.

Once at her own apartment, she unpacks her own stuff from the day. Takes it up the flights of stairs to her own front door, but there’s something that feels off. Something that is missing. She feels like a piece of herself is missing. A piece of her heart is missing, is residing with someone else. She’s known he’s had her heart for a while, but this is the first time that she's realized that when she leaves him, she leaves her heart behind as well. 

_ Focus Prentiss. Get your workout in and stop thinking about him. You’re no good for him, _ her mind reminds her as she lays her go bag and her purse down. She doesn’t fully agree with her mind any more. It seems like pulling herself from him is what is doing more harm than being with him. Could it be that being with him would be better than keeping herself from him? Could pulling herself from him be the worse of two evils? She considers it as she walks to her room to grab clothes to workout in. Today is Cardio Recovery and she honestly just wants to get it over with. If she’s being honest, she wishes Aaron was here to do it with her.

Reaching in her drawers she grabs out a cropped grey tank that says ‘Lunge? I thought you said Lunch.’ She hasn’t worn it since her battle with Doyle. She especially would never wear it to the gym. But a lot of her tanks are dirty and this one is actually super comfy. The only issue is you can see about a third of her scar that stretches across her abdomen. She ignores that as she grabs a pair of black and white marbled leggings and slips on her tennis shoes as well. This workout is happening. Aaron will be a day behind with his drinking, but she’s staying on track, so help her god. 

Walking back into the living room, she boots up her computer and logs into her account. She sees her tracker for today waiting for her. Before she boots up the workout, she logs the shake and the water she’s had throughout the day. She’s mainly on track as long as she gets her workout in. So let’s get it done. Emily clicks on the workouts and brings up the Insanity page. She brings up the workouts and then clicks on Cardio Recovery. It leads to the montage that she’s so used to and then fades into the warm up, stretching, then the workout.

Across town, Aaron stumbles towards his bedroom after dumping his work bags on the floor in the living room. In the back of his mind there is a lingering thought that he was supposed to do something before going to bed. Or maybe even a couple of things, but going to bed sounds the best. Jessica had been pretty disapproving of his appearance when he came home, but luckily hadn’t said much of anything about it. Instead she just left him to deal with his night routine. Had he even eaten dinner? He can’t remember, but his bed seems so appealing at this point that he doesn’t care. 

Pulling his pants off and then his shirt, he climbs into bed without much of a second thought. He yanks the covers over his head and tries to block the lights out. Why is it so bright still? Cracking his eyes open, he realizes the lights are still on. Fuck. Throwing the covers back, he reaches for the light switch, wondering if he can get it without getting out of bed, but his luck isn’t that good. The light switch is a good hundred feet away. So instead his feet have to reach out and touch the carpet to push across the room. Once across the room, he switches the light off and makes his way back to bed, pulling the covers back over his head. He closes his eyes and is about to drift off to sleep when Emily’s words ring in his ears.

_ “Home. I need to still get a workout in.” _ Fuck. Workout. That’s what he forgot. Guess he needs to get a second workout in tomorrow.

**I’ll pick you up at 8.**

He was asleep before he could even read the text on his phone.


	19. Day Nineteen

She’s driving him to work today. He also has a massive hangover. And he already did one workout but still has to do a second to be on track. Today is going to be rough. 

Did he really have a liquid dinner last night? Did he really have a conversation with her while drunk? Did he really tell her he’d wait for her? Did she really ask him to wait for her? What did all of that mean? Ugh, he really needs this hangover to go away so he can think without garden gnomes playing drums in his head. 

But he knows for sure that she asked him to wait for her and that’s what’s important. She wants him, on some level at least partially. There’s still the question of the date she’s going on on Saturday. Should he ask her about it? Try and talk her out of it maybe? Is that his place? Is that part of waiting for her? Does he have to wait through dates with others? He just doesn’t know. 

His brain wants to argue all of it with her. But he’s tired of arguing with her. He wants to be able to hold her already. He wants to be able to snatch her away from other people and to have her all to himself. But if he continues with these thoughts, or worse if he acts on that behaviors, is he showing her that he will wait for her? So even if the idea of her going out with someone else fills him with despair, he’ll stay home with Jack and distract himself with whatever sports game is playing on the television while he knows she’ll be out in the arms of someone else.

He can’t let his mind be distracted by all of this anymore as Emily pulls up in front of his apartment building. For now he’ll focus on the fact that he gets to spend an extra twenty minutes with his best friend, thanks to his stupidity last night. Is it the best of circumstances? No, but he’s not sorry about it. So far they haven’t received any calls about dump sites or new graves they have to head off to, so all they have to do is head into the office like normal. Walking out to her car, he can hear a light beat coming from inside her car, and sees her sitting in her car waiting for him. He opens the backseat door and places his stuff down. She hits the button to turn off her music as he places his bags down.

“Morning.” Her voice tinkles through the air like a wind chime and he can’t help but smile. Not even a hangover can take away the fact that he’s getting to spend extra time with Emily. 

“Morning.” He replies as he slides into the passenger's seat.

“How are you feeling today?” She asks, but before he can answer, she tacks on, “How’s your head?”

“It’s ok. Nothing I can’t live through.” He admits begrudgingly as he pulls his seat belt on. 

“I…” She starts to say something but trails off.

“You?”

“I was surprised to find you drinking like that.” She admits.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t think I’ve seen you drinking since Insanity started, but especially not at work.” Her shoulder’s move up and then down. “Didn’t think I’d find you in your office on Thursday drowning yourself in scotch.”

“Wasn’t exactly my best moment.” But the heat doesn’t rise to his cheeks like he expects. He’s not embarrassed by it like he thought he would be. It got them to talk about more than they usually would, so he’ll take the fact that he had to get drunker than normally for it to happen. She put herself out there. She asked him to wait. That means something, especially coming from her who barely says the things she wants or needs to a lot of the time. 

“No, but I think we both needed it.” Emily admits, her thoughts following a similar path as his. “I think we both said things we needed to say.” She doesn’t regret the words said in his office or her car. In fact, she’s proud of a lot of what was said last night. They’re finally moving on the right path she thinks. They’re finally having conversations that aren’t just screaming at each other. They’re finally on a path that is making it towards where they’re supposed to be. With each other hopefully. 

“Emily, I said some nasty things though-” She stops him as she turns onto the highway.

“And I haven’t been the best at handling your heart. We’ve both made mistakes. But hopefully this is our start towards the finish line?” She says with hopefulness weaved into each word. “I meant what I said last night Aaron. I want you, but my heart is not completely there yet. I need just a little more time. But I’m in this. For us.” She keeps her eyes on the road, not wanting to lose her nerve as she speaks her truth.

“That means a lot to me Em.” He wants to take her hand in his, wants to place kisses on it. But he doesn’t know how far off from a them she might be. He doesn’t want to push her away, so for now he’ll keep his hands to himself. But her own hand reaches for his and pulls his left into her right.

“Hopefully soon.” She makes a promise to both him and herself.

“Only as soon as you’re ready for it. I’m not trying to push you into something you aren’t ready for.” He turns his hand over to lightly squeeze hers. He’ll always love the feeling of her hand in his. Just slightly smaller than his, but strong in their own ways. He doesn’t want to let her go, but he feels as though he has been holding on to her for too long already, even though it has only been a few moments. But surprisingly, when he tries to let go, it’s Emily’s hand that keeps holding on. Her fingers wind in between his fingers while her other hand rests on the steering wheel. 

The traffic is slow moving, so the two sit in silence. Aaron’s too scared that if he says anything he’ll break the soft bubble they have around them. She may realize that she still has his hand in hers and withdrawal back into herself. The warmth of his hand in hers is calming. Definitely not something that she wants to pull away from anytime soon. But she can’t help but wonder if he’s only leaving his hand because she had pulled it back. So she loosens her hold on his hand, to let him pull away if he wants to. But she’s surprised when he squeezes her hand and pulls it back towards his. He had been surprised when she took charge in their relationship, or whatever they could call this between them, but he was happily surprised to be sure. After all this time of her pulling away in the moments when he wished she would lean into everything, this change was a welcomed one.

She knows he wants her, that he loves her. But here in this conversation less place, she can almost see the mechanics of how easy the two of them being together could be. Picturing a future together was one thing, but she could see the day to day, driving to work together, enjoying the little moments of quiet, things outside of just working together. The idea of spending little moments together, well it calms her and warms her to the idea of diving into a relationship, to placing her claims on him in a way that is different than just saying ‘this is my best friend’. 

Turning off of the highway, there’s only a few more minutes before they’ll be at the federal building. Aaron doesn’t want the ride to be over, mainly because he knows they’ll have to slip back into their roles as boss and subordinate as well as he’ll lose his hold on her hand. It’s a small thing to be sad to lose but after all their fights and arguments in the past couple weeks, he doesn’t want to let go. He looks over to see a look of chagrin painting her features.

“What’s wrong?” He asks.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing with that look on your face.”

“I’m fine.” He watches as Emily starts to place her emotions into boxes and he doesn’t want to lose the insight into her.

“Emily, you can talk to me, about anything.”

“And make your hangover worse, I’ll pass.” She lets a small smile take over her muscles, trying to distract him.

“You’re not going to make my hangover worse by talking to me. The only person who made my hangover worse was me.” He adds, not wanting her to take any of the blame for the fact that he’s hungover.

“I’m fine.” She repeats as she pulls into the parking garage. He isn’t going to push her. In the past, that has only made things worse. So instead he watches as she swipes her badge to open the gate into the garage. The silence engulfs the car again.

“Why no music?” Aaron asks, finally noticing the thing that was even more different, beyond the hand holding.

“What?”

“You always play music. I don’t think I’ve ever gone for a ride in your car where your music isn’t blasting.”

“Oh. Yeah I guess you’re right.” Emily looks down towards her stereo for a split second, her favorite thing about her car. “I thought your head might be pounding a bit much for music on top of it.” Emily shrugs as she starts to turn into a parking space. She gave up her music for him? Emily, who would have music going twenty four seven if it was allowed? “I didn’t want your headache to be worse.”

“It wouldn’t have made it that much worse. I’m more sorry that you didn’t get your music. I know it’s your preferred way to start your morning.”

“There’s other good ways to start the morning too.” Emily says with a Cheshire like grin and Aaron can’t even begin to imagine what is going through her head.

“Want to share?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see if you get to find out.” Emily says before taking her hand back to put her car into park. The underlying tone draws the reaction from him that she was hoping for. His mind is sent right back to their make out on his couch. What he would give to go back to that moment to find out what she means now.  _ No, you want to have her for more than one night,  _ his mind reminds him. “You coming?” Emily asks as she steps out of her now opened door.

“Not now,” He grumbles at the double entendre she doesn’t know she made. Emily looks back over her shoulder at him as she slams the door with one hand. Did he say not now? But moments later, Aaron gets out of the other side and starts to reach for his own stuff. Maybe she just heard him wrong. 

The pair walks towards the elevators to ride up to their floor. They pass Jerry the security guard who they both wave to and then get on the metal box. Both profilers are in their own heads, thinking over the things that need to get done today. Emily is kind of hoping they catch another case so she can get out of the Ambassador’s Ball tomorrow. Aaron knows that he has a list of things to get done, but the one that is sticking to the forefront of his mind is the fact that Emily has her secret date tomorrow that he still hasn’t figured out anything more about. It’s not like he can just admit to her that he accidentally eavesdropped on her conversation and wants to know more. But all the other tactics he has are either illegal or take a lot more explaining to be able to utilize. 

His focus falls on her or wanders to where her plans might be instead of being able to concentrate on work. He can see her hand move as it writes her case file. She entices his every breath. He thought that they were moving forward. Hell, even in the car this morning, it felt different. But she’s still going on pointless dates? It’s frustrating. He meant what he told her last night. He’ll wait until she’s ready, but if it means watching her go through dating other men, well it will hurt but he’ll do it.

She can feel his eyes on her for most of the morning. If he had a question, he would ask her right? Between that and the hoping that they catch another case so she can avoid tomorrow night, her day passes quicker than normal. She might be able to get home before it's super late. But as the clock gets closer to five, the chances of catching a case is slim. It seems like she may have to go tomorrow, but at least tonight she can get her workout in and then maybe relax. In terms of weeks, this hasn’t been the worst, but it’s been very long.  So much had happened in less than a week. She kissed Aaron, they fought, she figured out her feelings for Aaron with JJ, Aaron decided they needed space, she found him drinking more than she’d seen him drinking in weeks, he told her he’d wait for her, and then there was the car ride this morning. Her heart had been taken on a trip this week, but she knows now what she really wants. She wants him. Risking her heart is worth it if it’s for him. He’s worth it. Glancing upwards, she tries to see the man of her heart, but he seems to have closed his blinds while she was thinking about everything that has happened.

Her files can wait until Monday to get turned in. If she sees Aaron, she may do something she regrets. So instead she leaves them on her desk as she starts to pack up her bag and collect her things to head out.

“You leaving Princess?” Morgan’s voice calls from behind her.

“Getting ready to.” She says with a smile. “Want to get my weekend started as soon as possible before we get called on a new case.”

“Could it be you want to avoid a case because of your date tomorrow?” Morgan wiggles his eyebrows at her.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” 

“About someone that caught your attention enough to get a Saturday night out of you? Yes I would like to know.”

“Well I hope you’re happy being disappointed.” She smirks at him as she shrugs her leather jacket on.

“Ouch Princess. My heart.” His hand comes to rest upon his chest, above where his heart lays, mocking if she had stabbed him in the heart. 

“Don’t listen to him Prentiss, he’ll survive not getting information.” Reid says from his desk next to Emily’s. “He doesn’t have to get everything he’s ever wanted in one go.”

“I thought he was supposed to be a profiler, but yet, he’s known about this for days and knows nothing new.”

“Being a profiler doesn’t mean I can read minds.” Morgan mutters defensively.

“Yeah but seeing how little you like to work, I would have thought you would have figured more out then the nothing you’ve figured out.” Emily teases the profiler she’s known for going on five years.

“Well how about you give us some clues and I bet we can figure all of this out?” Emily shakes her head in response to Morgan’s question.

“I’ve seen you figure out profiles with less.” She crosses her arms as she smiles towards him.

“Fine. You’re giving up a Saturday night for this guy, so clearly he doesn’t have a non nine to five job that is keeping you from going out on a weekday. But somehow you’re both managing to get a Saturday night off, so he must have made plans for the two of you. I’m thinking something like a nice dinner, reservations that you didn’t want to miss, but he must have been the one making the plans since you told him to send you the information. You must know him pretty well since you’re giving control in planning the date.” He looks her over and then continues. “You’re relaxed which means he must not be super new, and seeing as you needed to talk about girl problems with JJ the other day, I would guess this is getting pretty serious.”

“Anything else?” Emily asks, trying to see what else he was seeing that isn’t there.

“That’s all I got right now.” Morgan smirks at her. “So how good did I get?”

“I’m so single right now it’s not even funny. But good try.” She slips her bag over her shoulder and passes her folders to him. “As your reward, you can turn my files in too. I’m going to head out. See you Monday boys.” Emily makes her way towards the elevator as Morgan and Reid watch her go.

“Guess I should go give these to Hotch?” Morgan says looking down at the files Emily handed to him. 

“Maybe you should.” Reid agrees as he pulls on his own coat. Morgan makes his way up the stairs towards Hotch’s office. 

“Hey Hotch,” Morgan knocks on the door as he opens it, “I have some files for you.”

“Come on in.” Aaron looks up from the files he’s checking over. “You finished more files than normal.”

“Oh some of these are Emily’s.”

“Did she already leave?” Aaron glances at the window, but since his blinds are drawn, he can’t see her desk. Turning back to face the dark skinned agent in front of him, he holds a hand out for the files.

“She wanted to get out of here for some reason.”

“Maybe she has a date.” Aaron answers glumly.

“Well seeing as she says she’s ‘so single it isn’t funny’, I don’t think a date is in the cards tonight.” Morgan shrugs. “I think she just wanted to get out of here before there’s a case that pulls us out of having a weekend.” So single it’s not even funny? Then what was all the talk about her plans tomorrow? Aaron looks down at the files so that Morgan doesn’t catch the questions in his eyes. Maybe he should message her and see if they can hang out tomorrow? But it wouldn’t be a date. Jack would be there again. That wouldn’t push her in the wrong direction right? 

As Emily sits in traffic, one hand on her steering wheel, she can’t help but think through what Morgan had pointed out. If she were in another time and place, if she were something different than who she is, maybe he could have been making assumptions about her and Aaron, but instead he just happens to think that her having plans on a Saturday means a date. Her mother forcing her to go to an event where she will have to duck ‘suitable’ matches and talk politics all night is the farthest thing ever from a date. Maybe if she asked Aaron to tag along with her, she could avoid having to talk to the other men her mother is going to try to force on her. But asking him to tag along this late would be a bad idea. He’d have to find someone to watch Jack. Plus if the press puts pictures of them at a non work event together, Penelope will find them and she will have so much worse things to deal with. Although, having Aaron would make the event so much more fun.

She shakes her head as Within You by David Bowie comes on. She added the whole Labyrinth soundtrack to her playlist a few days ago after remembering how much she loves David Bowie, but this one is a lot slower and almost darker than most of the other songs on her playlist. A great song, but she’s not sure if it’s what she should listen to right now. So instead she presses skip to see if something more lighthearted comes up. The opening notes of Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin play, and although it’s also not super upbeat, it calms her in a way that Within You wasn’t. Something about the lyrics of Within You had hit her in a weird way that she couldn’t think about, didn’t want to think about. Running a hand through her hair, she looks up at the exit she passes to see how much farther she has to go. Jackson Ave- means she still has a few exits to go.

Across town, Aaron is getting in his own car to head home. He wants to see Jack before the night gets away from him, especially after last night. Plus after skipping dinner yesterday in exchange for his liquid dinner, he might want to actually try to get back on track tonight. A real dinner and his second workout, maybe not in that order though. The idea of doing a second Insanity workout sits in his gut like a bag of rocks. There’s so many other things he would rather be doing- many of them involving Emily if he’s telling the absolute truth. 

He should have invited her to come workout with him, or seen if he could come workout with her. But at this point she’s probably almost home, since she left before him. And he’s not going to make her sit through traffic again just to come workout. So it looks like he’ll be suffering through this workout on his own… unfortunately. He did Cardio Recovery to catch up this morning, so that means tonight he has to do Cardio Power and Resistance…? Or was it Plyometric Cardio Circuit? He had looked at the list this morning, but he honestly can’t remember which one is tonight’s workout.

Inside her apartment, Emily makes her way towards her bedroom to grab workout clothes. First tank top is… a blue one that reads ‘I got 99 problems and burpees are all of them’. Probably some truth in that today. She grabs a pair of black shorts and her tennis shoes. After changing, she makes her way to the bathroom to pull her hair up. All she needs to do is get through this workout and then her responsibilities are done for the day. 

So stepping back into her living room, she boots up her computer and brings up the webpage that she has visited so much recently. She pulls up the next workout for tonight. As the montage starts she gets herself mentally ready to start sweating and deal with a workout that she doesn’t really want to do, but she will to keep going. Technically, all she has to do is make it to the end of Insanity and then she has a date with Aaron, which hopefully her heart will be ready for by then. Emily would laugh, if her lungs weren’t already trying to keep up with the workout in front of her. She wouldn’t be laughing at the idea of it, because a date with Aaron doesn’t scare her like it used to. She would be laughing at the idea that it might take her another forty seven days to be ready to be with Aaron. For some reason that makes her want to laugh. Almost like her mind is telling her that sooner rather than later would be better, for both of them, she realizes as the workout pulls to a close. Could it be that she doesn’t need more time?


	20. Day Twenty

Waking up in her bed on a Saturday with no case is usually something that Emily would be happy about, but not today. She had really,  _ really _ been hoping that there would be a case so she could get out of the Ambassador’s Ball. Now, on top of getting dressed up to go to an event that she couldn’t care less about, she was going to have to see her mother on top of this too. She needs to figure out a dress to wear tonight. Maybe, JJ and Pen would want to go shopping for something new? Something maybe red or black would be a good option. Lifting her phone from the bedside table, she looks at the notifications sitting on her lock screen. The text from Aaron catches her eye. 

**Jack’s soccer team is having a sleep**

**over tonight, so I was thinking if you**

**don’t have plans, maybe we could hang**

**out? Do our workout? Maybe make dinner?**

**Watch a movie?**

**I have plans tonight, sorry.**

**Next time though.**

**Next time for sure.**

She could have invited him. He has a suit, he could have been her date. So why didn’t she ask him? She ignores these questions as she pulls up the group chat with Pen and JJ and types a new message.

**I need to go out and find a**

**dress for an event tonight. Want**

**to come along?**

She’s not even surprised that Pen is the first to respond.

**When do I ever say no to shopping?**

**What time? When? Where? And**

**how long do we have?**

**I’d say we have at least a couple hours**

**if we leave soonish. I can come pick**

**you up**

**That’s fine. I’m just sitting drinking coffee**

**JJ you want to join?**

**Can’t. Henry has a fever.**

**I’m staying home with him.**

**Will has a shift today.**

**You’ll have to join next time.**

Emily places her phone back on the bedside table as Sergio climbs up to circle, before sitting down on Emily’s lap. “Hi buddy.” She scoops him into her arms and holds him close. It’s really only ever been them two since, well forever at this point. She got Serg shortly after joining the BAU and mornings with him is her favorite thing. Getting to cuddle her baby boy, it can make any day feel better. His meows cut through the silence as he begs for his breakfast. It’s the soundtrack to her mornings always, but she holds him close as she pushes herself from the bed. As the blankets fall from around her, she loses the warmth that they had given her. Segio continues his conversation as they make their way to the kitchen. Hopefully, for once, he’ll eat his breakfast slow enough that she doesn’t have to worry about it ending up on her kitchen floor a few minutes later. 

Once she gets him all settled with his breakfast, this time a mix of wet and dry food to see if that slows him down, she decides that coffee is important while she gets ready. Her and Pen can probably grab food somewhere while they’re out, but right now she needs to get some caffeine in her or the drive over to Pen’s is going to be miserable. So as the coffee pot fills, she checks through Facebook and Instagram to see what the world is up to. The first picture that shows up on Instagram though catches her eye and she can’t keep swiping. It’s from Aaron’s feed and it’s a picture of Jack, probably from his soccer game this morning. His bright red uniform is sprinting down the field after the ball. The caption simply reads,  _ Jack’s Saturdays are filled with soccer these days.  _ No hashtags, nothing else. Just a simple update for family and friends about his son. 

Spending the day at a soccer game, or was today the day Jack had two, and then hanging out with Aaron sounds like a much better plan than spending her day getting ready for the Ambassador’s Ball, but she had promised she would be there. As much as she would rather hang out with her favorite Hotchners, she did have a promise to keep. She doesn’t really want to spend the night being hounded by her mom to meet ‘suitable’ matches and talk about politics, but if it gets her mother off her case for a while, she’ll do it. No matter how suitable the matches might be, none of them will be Aaron.

Taking her coffee with her, she makes her way back to her bedroom, with Sergio hot on her trail. Shopping with Garcia is similar to working out, but the attire is different, so instead of reaching for her workout clothes, Emily pulls out a pair of jeans, a solid color t-shirt, and a pair of her favorite boots. Checking the weather on her phone, she can see it's a little cold, so she slips into her leather jacket. Taking a sip from her coffee, she makes her way into her bathroom to put on a little bit of makeup as well as attempt to tame her hair. The kinks and curls are all over the place, even though she had calmed them last night after her shower. Ideally she should take the time to add some structure or straighten it, but seeing as she doesn’t know what she wants to do with it tonight, the safest bet is to put it in a ponytail and call it a day.

When she’s finally ready to go, a solid twenty minutes have passed since she started getting ready. She shoots a leaving text to Pen before grabbing her keys and purse. Making her way down to her car, she sees her neighbor that has two kids outside playing. She waves to them before getting in her car. She doesn’t know them well enough to stop and say hello, but a friendly wave now and then seems polite. Upon getting in the car, her phone connects to her speaker and Can’t Buy Me Love by the Beatles starts playing. It’s a good song to brighten her mood, although she’s in a fairly good mood since she’s heading off to see one of her friends. If only she could get pulled into a case before tonight, but seeing as they’re not on call, the likelihood is very, very slim. Almost impossible if she’s being honest. Unless Aaron pulled some strings, and maybe he could. But does she really want to give up her whole weekend just to get out of tonight?

_ It’s not worth it. You have a completely free Sunday. You’re wanting to give that up to get pulled into a case you don’t need to work? _ Her mind berates her as she turns down the streets that will take her to Pen’s house. She knows that her mind is right. She has the whole day tomorrow to do whatever she wants, but she just needs to make it through tonight.

“I think that one is killer.” Pen says looking at how the red fabric drapes down Emily’s body.

“You said that about the black one and the navy one too.”

“That is because you are able to pull off almost anything.” Garcia takes a sip from the coffee cup in her hand. “Are you trying to impress someone there?” Her eyebrow raises as she asks the question.

“No, but there’s probably going to be press photographers and such. I just want to look ok. A picture is worth a thousand words and all. Plus with the press that will be there, these will be on the internet forever.” Emily shrugs, turning to see the back of the dress. 

“Well then any of these will work. Especially because you are looking so toned. Like your arms are almost better than Michelle Obama’s but if she asks me if I said that I will deny it.” Emily glances at her arms in the mirror. She can see a bit more toning to them than she had in the past, so Insanity must have been doing something for her.

“Well thanks Pen. I think I might go with the black one. I think most people will be in black and white, so it will be easier to blend in.”

“If everyone is going to be wearing black and white, you should go with the red. Really stand out.”

“Mother is already going to draw more attention to me than I want, so I’d rather blend.”

“You should still get the red dress. Save it for something else. Because it looks too good on you to pass up.”

“I have no need for a second dress right now.”

“There’s the Director’s Ball in December.”

“That’s months away. I could even wear the black one for that.”

“You could, but you know who’s mouth would hit the floor if you showed up in that red one?” Emily raises an eyebrow at her friend, already guessing where this is going. “Hotch. He would die seeing you in that dress.”

“Why would I want to kill our boss?”

“Don’t even. I know there’s something going on between the two of you. I’d have to be oblivious not to see it. So don’t even think of denying it. Just think what he would think if he saw you in that.” Emily glances back in the mirror. The red chiffon wraps around her body in the most flattering way. It cinches in at her waist before bellowing out slightly towards the floor. Would Aaron like it? Probably. But that’s not the point. December is months away. Who knows what could happen between now and then? Could Aaron and her get together? Sure. Could they also fall miles and miles apart by then? Also a possibility.

“Even so, I don’t need a second dress.” Emily says, turning back towards the dressing room to get out of the dress that she won’t be buying.

“So you’re not denying that there’s something there?” Pen asks, not letting the topic drop even though the door has closed.

“You did tell me not to try denying it?” Emily said, neither confirming or denying as she unzips the dress and pulls it from her body.

“Emily Prentiss, that is not an answer. Is there or is there not something between you and Hotch?” Penelope demands.

“I think there could be, but I’m not sure.” Emily pulls her own clothes on as she says what she hopes will satisfy her friend.

“That sounds like a we need to get brunch and talk things out kind of thing.”

“Pen, I think it’s best to just let it go right now. There’s not anything I can do today with the event and everything.”

“But tomorrow is an off day.” Penelope’s voice sparkles with her hope of getting her BAU ship together finally. If Emily had to guess, she would bet that Pen had her fingers crossed and maybe even her toes.

“Tomorrow is a Sunday that will probably be filled with cleaning my apartment and going grocery shopping. Not confessing love or anything else that you would find interesting. That was last weekend.” The words slip out before Emily realizes what she said.

“Last weekend? I think we have some catching up to do and brunch is the best place for it. Come on, let’s pay for your dress and then I know of the best place for us to sort out your feelings.” Pen pulls her towards the cash register with the black dress in tow.

As they sit down at the table, Penelope looks at Emily. Instead of hiding her feelings like she normally does, she can see a few lines of worry perhaps etching into Emily’s skin. “So do you want to explain what is going on that I have apparently not been told for a week?” 

“There’s been a lot. I more needed a Penelope catch up moment, and we haven’t really had that.”

“No excuses. I always have time for news, especially about my favorite ship. I can’t believe things have happened for team Hotchniss and you didn’t tell me.” Emily rolls her eyes at the ship name Pen had made up ages ago for the couple she ships. “I should be the first person you come to when you have decided to make a move on Hotch.”

“I didn’t necessarily plan to make a move. Things kind of just well... happened.” Emily shrugs as she takes a sip of her coffee.

“Ok, this sounds like we need something stronger than coffee. Do you see our waiter? We should get mimosas.”

“I’m not drinking right now.” Emily says.

“Holy shit. Don’t tell me you're pregnant with his child already.”

“We haven’t even slept together.”

“Then why aren’t you drinking?”

“I’m doing a fitness program to get ready for my vacation. So I cut drinking out for the most part since that started.”

“Oh right. Morgan was saying he thought you and Hotch were working out without him.”

“Is he jealous?” Emily asks with a smirk.

“I think a little bit. He used to being the fitness one. So I think he thinks that you would have come to him if you wanted to do something fitness related.”

“Aw, well it was nothing personal. Aaron and I just made a bet.”

“So it’s Aaron now?” Penelope smirks over her own cup of coffee as she asks. Emily rolls her eyes and doesn’t say anything as she sips on her own coffee. “So what  _ has _ happened between you two?”

“We made out. Twice.” Emily’s voice doesn’t come out louder than a whisper as she adds, “We also may have told each other we love one another.”

“Anyone on this green earth could have told you that.” Penelope pushes up her glasses before asking, “wait if you two have admitted your feelings and made out, why are you not practicing to make little Hotchniss babies?”

“He said he wants to take me out on a date before we sleep together.”

“So when’s the date?”

“We don’t have one.”

“Why the fuck not?” Penelope’s voice comes out harsher than she means for it too. “Really though, if a date is all it takes to land him-”

“I’m not trying to land him Pen. This is our boss remember.”

“You know what I mean. You both want to be together, so why aren’t you?”

“Because I’m a scaredy cat.” 

“You? Scared of something? Impossible.”

“I’m scared of losing him.”

“So you’re turning him down? That logic makes no sense.”

“Who said I’m turning him down?”

“You. You said he wants to take you out and that you’re a scaredy cat. Hence you turned him down.”

“I didn’t turn him down. He technically never officially asked me out.”

“So you’re both being stupid.” Penelope sets her mug of coffee down on the table. “How am I supposed to get my ship if you’re both being stupid?”

“Technically, we’re not saying no.” And Emily starts in on explaining everything to her friend.

“So he’s waiting for you to be ready? That’s why he hasn’t asked you out? Emily Prentiss, don’t make me wring your pretty little neck.” Emily’s brows fall together at Penelope’s words. “He loves you, he’s your best friend, and he literally is saying like all the right things. So why isn’t he worth a risk?”

“I’m not saying he isn’t.”

“Then why aren’t you calling him up and saying yes please take me on a date ASAP?”

“Because that sounds like you, not me.”

“You’re purposely avoiding the point.” Emily knows she is too. She doesn’t really have any excuses anymore. “You could invite him to tag along to the event tonight.” Penelope suggests what her mind had suggested already. 

“I’m not trying to torture him. Plus this event is my mother trying to make political matches, so if I show up with a date that kind of defeats the point.”

“If your heart is already with someone else, doesn’t that defeat the purpose too?” Penelope tends to be right about a lot of things, but it seems she’s spot on with this one. 

“I never said I wanted to make any matches at the event tonight. I said my mother does.”

“The point still stands. Hotch already has your heart and your mom is going to learn that at some point probably, so why not start with tonight?”

“Trust me I’ve thought about it. But I don’t think it’s the right place to start out either.”

“You still sound like you’re making excuses. Don’t make me step in and work the two of you out.”

“Don’t you dare.” Emily’s eyes light with the fire behind them. She loves her friends but having them step into her relationship with Aaron is something completely different. “I’m a trained spy, remember.”

“Your petty threats do nothing. I’m trying to make sure my ship becomes canon. Why won’t you let me help?”

“Pen, I’m serious. Don’t.”

“Fine, but you have to make a move on him soon. You two are going to be fantastic together.” Their food comes out and Emily is able to turn the conversation off of her and Aaron. By the end of brunch, she knows she needs to head home and get a workout in if she wants to not have to do it tonight after the ball.

“I probably should start heading home.” She admits to Pen.

“You still have time to invite him.” Penelope throws out as one last hope.

“Drop it Pen, please. I’m not going to invite him, especially this last minute. He probably already has plans.” _ Liar _ , her mind shouts at her, but not loudly enough to escape her lips. 

“Fine. I’m just saying you could.”

“That’s not dropping it.” Emily rolls her eyes as they make her way to the car. “I can leave you here to think about your ship if you’d rather.”

“Take me home.” Penelope says with a laugh.

Once she drops Pen at her apartment she starts to head home to get a workout in. Little does she know, her friend is still trying to play matchmaker. Penelope pulls up her computer and does a quick search with a few clicks of her keys. Finding the invitation was easy. Especially since Emily’s mom’s assistant had scanned and emailed a copy to her earlier this week. “She’ll thank me for this.” Dragging the image into her inbox, she emails a copy of it to Hotch with the body simply reading-  **if you have no plans, you can spend the evening with a certain someone.**

Across town, Aaron hears his phone ping with a new email. He opens it to see an email from Garcia. The Ambassador’s Ball? That’s what Emily is going to tonight? His hand itches to text her and ask to accompany her, but then he remembers- they talked this morning and she said nothing. If she had wanted him there, he would have been invited by her and not Garcia. So instead of replying, he hits trash on the email. He’ll need to talk with Garcia about invasions of coworkers privacy. He doubts Emily knows that Garcia sent this to him. He’ll add it to his to do list for Monday.

Emily walks into her closet and pulls out work out clothing. Her shoes are right by the door, so those are an easy grab. Next she takes a pair of shorts out of her drawers before looking for a tank top to wear. The first one she grabs is a grey one that says ‘I hate Running but I love French Fries.’ It doesn’t totally work for today’s workout, but it’s clean and it fits so she’ll wear it. She has forty minutes to get through and then she can pamper herself through the rest of the evening to get ready for the ball she doesn’t want to attend. But right now, she’ll make herself walk out into her living room and click on the workout to get through it. The montage fills her living room and she lets herself stop thinking about anything but working out for the next forty minutes.

At the end of it, she’s dripping in sweat and ready for a shower. She’ll let her lavender body wash fill her scent as she washes today from her skin to start fresh. Turning on her bluetooth speaker, she lets the music take over her bathroom. The first song to start playing is St. Jimmy by Green Day. The beat of it has always made her feel happier, but it also makes her feel like she should go for a run. A good hype song in her opinion. Turning the water to hot, she allows the steam to fill her bathroom as she strips the sweaty workout clothes from her body. She also pulls the hair band from her hair so that the curls can rest around her face.

After stepping out of the shower, she towel dries her body before reaching for her hair dryer. She needs to attempt to wrangle her curls if she wants them to look decent for tonight. Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage plays over the speaker, even though her hair dryer buzzes through it. She runs her hand through her hair as she hums along with the song. A few others play as she dries her hair. But eventually she has curls that have some semblance of body to them and are no longer dripping water. 

Making her way across the apartment, she starts to get dressed, putting on some underwear and stockings. She doesn’t want to put on her dress yet to avoid getting makeup on it. So instead she leaves it hanging on the doorway to her closet before making her way back to the bathroom. Taking a look in the mirror, she tries to decide what to do with her look tonight. Maybe do some darker makeup and then pin her hair up? That would probably work. 

Digging through her makeup bag, she goes looking for the shadows she hasn’t used in a while since she hasn’t had a place that really needed it. But grabbing out the black and gold matte pallet, she opens it to see the mix of nudes and darker colors. She doesn’t want to go for a full on smokey eye, but some darker colors with a neutral base might work. She starts to swipe colors along her lid. I’ll Stick Around by the Foo Fighters takes over the silence of her mind as she works on applying the makeup. She decides to do a bright red lip to make up for the lack of colors anywhere else. After finishing her hair, she pins up her curls loosely so they’re back and away from her face. 

Going back into her bedroom, she slips into the dress she bought earlier today. It’s sweetheart neckline comes up high enough to hide the mark on her chest. The waist cinches inward before the skirt drapes down to the floor with a little bit of a train. Making her way into her closet she goes looking for a pair of heels. Because of the length of the dress she needs the heels to be at least four inches, if not taller. She finds the best pair waiting in the back of her closet. They’re black strappy heels with a five inch heel. Plus they’re rather comfortable, so she hopefully won’t be dying at the end of the night. 

As she walks over to get jewelry, she calls for an uber, not wanting to drive tonight. It will allow her to drink as much as she needs to get through this as well as she doesn’t have to deal with parking a car. Since she has about ten minutes until it gets here, she reaches into her jewelry box and tries to pick some jewelry. The first thing that catches her eye is a silver bracelet with a double infinity on it. So while she clicks that on her wrist, she looks for other silver pieces that will go well with it. Sitting in the upper drawer of her jewelry box is a pair of ornate chandelier earrings that Nana Prentiss had given to her for her high school graduation. The diamonds on them catch the light so she pins them on. Lastly, she reaches for a silver ring with a princess cut ruby that had been in her family for generations. If she’s remembering correctly it was her great great great great grandmother’s engagement ring. But ever since she was a child she had always been mystified by it, and tonight seems like a good reason to actually wear it.

After riding in her uber across town, she arrives at the hotel that the ball is being held at. There’s a silent auction for charity going on, but Emily walks past it. If her mother doesn’t know she’s here, she’ll never hear the end of it. “Now that can’t be the same Emily Prentiss I knew from all those years ago.” Emily looks over to where the voice is coming from.

“Marshall?” She asks, slightly unsure, but pretty sure her childhood friend was standing in front of her, inches taller than her as he had always been.

“In the flesh darling.” He offers her a smile as he holds his arms out to her for a hug.

“It’s been far too long.” She says as she hugs him close.

“That’s why you need to make your way across the sea sometimes.”

“Some of us have jobs that keep us traveling a lot. Plus going out of the country has a lot of paperwork attached to it.” She replies honestly. “Pretty sure you make it to DC often enough. You ever think about visiting the other direction.”

“When I’m here, it’s always for boring matters of state and such.” He waves his hand trying to diminish the idea. “But if I had known that you were going to look like this, I would have come visit way sooner. You look absolutely smashing.”

“Thanks Marshall. You clean up very well too. So tell me how is the Foreign and Commonwealth office treating you these days?”

“Nothing to complain about.”

“Ambassador Wellix, can we grab a photo of you?” Marshall flashes his traditional press smile.

“Sure, sure. You’ve caught me with the prettiest belle of the ball. Emily, have you met Jennie? She’s a journalist with… is it the Guardian?” 

“Yes. Still with the Guardian. Emily? As in Ambassador Prentiss’ daughter Emily?”

“One in the same.” Emily extends a hand to the journalist.

“You’re an FBI Agent right?” Jennie asks, suddenly interested in Emily’s career.

“I am.”

“Well maybe I could get a quote from you regarding-”

“Unfortunately any quotes will have to come from the FBI communications liaison. I’m just here to enjoy the ball and support my mother.” Emily flashes a tight smile. “You understand don’t you?”

“Sure, sure. Well how about that photo? Maybe the two of you?” Marshall wraps an arm around Emily’s waist and pulls her in as they both flash light smiles towards the camera. “Ambassador, the people can’t wait to hear how you plan to make relationships with America even strong.” Her eyes flash back to Emily, and her accusation is almost screaming. Emily thinks nothing of it, knowing that Marshall is very happy in his own relationship. When the petite redhead walks away, Marshall turns to face Emily. 

“Well it seems no matter how many times I tell people that my fiance and I are completely happy, they want to insinuate otherwise.”

“It’s fine Marshall, I promise.”

“Just promise you’ll say that if you get accused of being the other woman.”

“I’m pretty sure the people who actually know me will know that can’t be a possibility.” 

“Ah does Miss Emily Prentiss finally have her eyes on someone worthy of her heart?”

“That’s Agent Prentiss to you.”

“Pretty sure going to boarding school together cancels out any need to call each other by our titles.” Marshall lets out a laugh. “I should go find out where George has scampered off to. I’ll catch you later? I’m pretty sure I still owe you a drink from the last one of these functions we were at.”

“I’ll take you up on that for sure. I should go looking for my parents anyway.”

“Give them my best. I’ll probably find them at some point tonight but in case I don’t.”

“I will Marshall. I’ll find you and George later. I’ve missed him too.”

“We’ll have to get you to come visit eventually.” She nods and turns the opposite way from where he’s going. She sees a waiter walking around with glasses of champagne, and takes a glass when offered.

“You know I remember the days when you were sneaking those to try and be funny.” 

“Hi Dad.” She turns to see her father in a black suit, his navy honors pinned to his chest. “Is the she beast coming to find me?”

“Your mother is not looking for you yet. I thought you were over that nickname.”

“You forbid she devil, remember?” Had to return to my older nicknames.”

“Personally, I’d rather neither of them. Now, since you haven’t been home in a while, how about you catch me up on work, your personal life, all other things a father should know?”

“There’s not much to tell.” Emily takes a sip of her champagne.

“I haven’t seen you in months and that’s all dear old dad gets?” Emily smiles at her father’s antics.

“I didn’t think murder was a polite conversation topic according to Mother.”

“She might be right on that. But what about in your off time? Any one noteworthy?”

“I’m not dating anyone if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Well your mother has a few people she’s interested in introducing you too.”

“That doesn’t mean I’ll be interested in any of them either.” Aaron’s dark eyes flash through her mind, and part of her wishes she had invited him. She could have avoided all of this, but instead she’s going to have to pretend that she’s at least remotely interested in anything the men her mother has to offer her have to say. 

“That sounds like the sounds of someone who’s heart is off the market. Want to talk to your dad about it?”

“You’re reading into things again Dad. Or you’ve had too much of this.” She raises her own glass of champagne towards him. 

“Haven’t even touched it. I just know my daughter. So why didn’t you bring him?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll let it go for now, but sooner or later, you’ll tell me about him. You always do.” He smiles at his daughter. He takes her right hand that has the ruby ring on it. “Someday I would like to see something like this on your other hand you know? Make your old man a happy camper?”

“Weddings usually take two participants Dad.” She rolls her eyes.

“I know that. But you know what also takes two participants? Grandbabies. And I’d like some of those in the future too.”

“As soon as there are any prospects of that, I will let you know. For now, don’t you have to go and be on Mother’s arm?”

“I’m good right now. Maybe take my daughter to look at some of the silent auction prospects. We could win big you know.”

“The last time you won big, we had that trip and Mother nearly killed you for messing with her schedule.” Emily reminds her father of a few years back ago.

“But a trip would be fun. It’s been awhile since you took time off.”

“I’m actually taking vacation in a few months. Getting some time to relax.”

“Where are you going?”

“Fiji. Two weeks on the Mamanuca Islands beaches with nothing to do but read trashy chick lit and work on my tan.”

“Taking any  _ friends _ with you?” Her father insinuates.

“Going all by myself.” She replies before taking a sip of the bubbles in her glass. “Do you have any trips planned with any  _ friends _ ?” Emily turns the question back on him with a smile.

“Your mother and I are flying to Ireland and then Dubai in the next few weeks to take care of some stuff for her job and mine. Then we’re taking a trip to Morocco for her birthday.” He wraps an arm around her back. “Come on. Humor your old man.” He motions towards the silent auction.

“Fine, but you can’t bid on anything that Mother will get mad about. Because she’ll blame me. I’m the bad influence according to her.”

“She says that, but then she’ll always blame me once you go home. She just knows we’re cohorts.” He smiles at his daughter. “I’ve missed you Emily.”

“Missed you too Dad.”

“You should come home more often.” People wave at them as they walk by on their way to the silent auction. Most of the people here know her parents, so it isn’t a surprise. She’s honestly so used to it, that she doesn’t even notice it until her dad starts pointing out people that she should remember. They look over all the things at the auction, ranging from luxury purses to trips to appliances, and her father places his bidding number on a couple of them. When she raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything, he replies with a quick, “What? It’s for charity.”

“You said that about the last six items too.”

“I had a feeling I’d find the two of you over here.” Her mother’s voice comes from behind her. “Really Emily, you couldn’t even come say hello? You’re making me look bad in front of the press.”

“I was coming to find you earlier-” Emily starts to explain.

“I found her and distracted her.” Her father interrupts her. “I figured we’d come support the DC Children’s Hospital while you mingled.” He places a kiss on his wife’s cheek.

“No bidding on trips. We have too much planned right now.” She reprimands her husband before turning her attention to her daughter. “Now Emily, I have some young men to introduce you to.” Let her personal hell burn. “Come along.” Emily switches her empty champagne glass for a filled one as she follows her mother into the lion’s den. It’s going to be a long night.


	21. Day Twenty One

Aaron stares at the blinking cursor in his text thread to Emily. He wants to send her something. Something to make her smile. Or even he wants to ask her to come hang out with him and Jack. But she had plans last night, who knows how late she was up, who knows if she wants the day to relax. So instead he backs out of the message thread without sending anything.

Emily looks at the last conversation between her and Aaron. She should have invited him. Why didn’t she? She would have at least gotten to see him, which was clearly what he had been wanting when he sent the message. Honestly, she wishes she could have seen him too. She misses him, even though it’s only been a little over 24 hours since she last saw him. _You’ve lost it Prentiss,_ her mind screams at her, but she shoves the thought from her mind. She hasn’t lost it like her mind is saying, she’s in love. And she doesn’t want to wait any more. All she wants is him. She wants to be with him, spend time with him outside of the work day, and show him how she really feels. But is telling him over text messages the best way to tell him that he’s waited long enough? No, he deserves better. He deserves being told in person.

So instead of sending anything, she backs out and puts her phone down. She’s not chickening out, she’s not! She’s just waiting until they’re in person. _You could go over now,_ her mind reminds her. It’s a Sunday, the likelihood that he has things going on besides taking care of Jack is low. But should she take away from his day with Jack? That’s not fair to Jack. Emily runs a hand through the curls left over from last night. She should wait. She’ll see him at work tomorrow anyway, she can deal with it then?

But that leaves the question of what to do with today? She’s already tided her apartment, put a load of laundry to get done, and even started some meal prep. So what else can she do today besides get a workout in? _You could invite Aaron to workout with you._ But then it clicks, it’s Sunday. Which means it’s a rest day. She doesn’t even have a workout to do. There's no excuse to invite him over or reason to explain her showing up at his house either.

“I guess I could read a book.” Emily says to no one. Sergio looks up from where he’s lounging in the sun, but sees no reason to move. “Or should we watch a movie, Serge?” Sergio lets out a single meow at her before rolling onto his side and letting the sun drench him more. Emily loves living alone, but she’s bored. She needs something besides talking to her cat to get her through the day.

As Jack kicks the soccer ball to him, he can’t help but think what could have happened if he had taken up the invitation that Garcia had sent him. Not that he really would have wanted to get into a suit last night, but at least seeing Emily would have been better than not seeing her. There’s no workout for him to do today, which means no added reason to reach out to her. _I miss my best friend_. Her text from a few days replays in his mind and he misses the ball that Jack kicks. As he goes after it, he realizes what his brain is trying to tell him. He doesn’t need a reason to see her. Maybe he should just text her and see how her weekend is going?

Across town, Emily’s phone pings with a text. Lifting her phone up and setting her book down, she glances at the screen to see a text from Garcia including a picture from the ball last night.

**YOU LOOK HAWT!**

**AND WHO’S THE ARM CANDY?**

**Please tell me he’s available.**

**Thanks. That’s my friend Marshall.**

**He is engaged so unfortunately, not.**

**Plus he would go after Reid and Morgan**

**before either of us.**

**All the good ones are gay, taken,**

**or both. (crying emoji)**

**We will find you a man.**

**You always have Morgan**

**Very true. Options of Hot Chocolate or being**

**single, well I know which one I’d take.**

**Where did you even find the pic?**

**I have my ways.**

**A magician never reveals her secrets**

**Whatever you say. Google deep dive?**

**Something like that.**

**Side note, I was thinking of seeing if Reid, Morgan,**

**and/ or JJ were up for seeing a movie tonight.**

**Maybe like Captain America? Wanna come?**

**Sure. Let me know when and where.**

Guess that takes place of finding something to do tonight. Plus seeing the team outside of their normal work environment would give them a chance to chill out and just hang without the stress of a serial killer looming over them.

“So the boys aren’t joining us?” Emily asks as she meets up with JJ and Pen, who had already bought tickets for tonight.

“Reid claimed he had a lecture he couldn’t miss. Morgan said his sister is in town for the weekend.” JJ explains.

“Girls night it is. It’s been ages since we’ve been able to just hang out. Emily and I grabbed brunch yesterday and she had weeks of stuff to tell me.” JJ catches Emily’s eye trying to figure out if Penelope means what JJ thinks she does.

“Yes, you both know all there is to know about Aaron and I.” 

“Oh thank god!” Garcia says quickly. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to ask about it.”

“There’s nothing to tell. You saw me less than 12 hours ago. I haven't even seen him since we spoke.” Penelope’s face fell and Emily knows she did something. “What did you do?”

“I may have sent an invite to Hotch. I thought he might show up and make the evening easier on you.”

“Garcie you promised to leave it alone.” Emily knows Penelope meant well, but she still can’t believe that Pen did that. Or actually, knowing that it was Pen that did it, it makes a lot of sense. Aaron had an invitation and didn’t come? Maybe he didn’t see it until late in the evening and it was too late. Her brain starts making excuses for him, not wanting to believe that he didn’t want to go.

“I couldn't. I needed to help you out!” She looks at Emily with pleading eyes. “I had to at least push the two of you a little bit. You clearly weren’t doing anything to push each other.” JJ’s blue eyes are watching the back and forth between her two friends. 

“And I told you not to mess with it.” Emily pauses for a moment and then asks, “Wait is this why you were finding pictures from last night?”

“I was trying to see if he showed.”

“Well he didn’t. So either he didn’t get your invite until too late or…” Emily trails off, not wanting to finish that thought.

“He probably didn’t see it.” Penelope says as they stand in line for popcorn.

“Or he realized you were messing around with other people's lives and he decided not to go since the invite didn’t come from Emily.” JJ suggests.

“Actually that one sounds more like Hotch.” Penelope agrees.

“Either way, you need to promise not to do anything else. I’ll decide if and when I want to make a move.” Emily sternly states.

“Fine, but can you decide to do something sooner rather than later?” Her eyes go wide with her plea. “I’m sick of my ship not being happily together.”

“You two will be the first to know if anything changes, I promise.”

Across town, Aaron shuts the door to Jack’s room after getting him down. He still has hours before he needs to go to sleep himself, so right now he needs a distraction. Maybe he should check his social medias he never looks at. The first picture posted is from Garcia and it’s three people holding movie tickets to see Captain America. The caption reads **‘Movie date with the girls #ChrisEvansYouAreMySuperSoldier.’** She had tagged Emily and JJ, which doesn’t surprise him, but he finds himself being drawn to click on Emily’s profile. 

Maybe she will have posted something from the event last night and he can at least see what he missed out on. But there’s nothing new on her page besides a picture from when she had gone to the park with them last weekend. It wasn’t even any of them, but just Jack’s soccer ball sitting in the grass and a caption that reads ‘ **Lazy Sunday playing at the park.** ’ He didn’t even know she had taken a picture while they were there, but the fact that she shared that and not last night makes him feel a certain way. It makes him feel....loved by her. Maybe this is a step in the right direction to where they can be more than friends one day. Maybe.


	22. Day Twenty Two

The headline from the gossip website glares at him and he can’t believe he hadn’t thought of it when he was confessing his feelings to Emily. She might already have her eyes set on someone else.  **_Daughter of Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss Falling For Her Own Ambassador?_ ** He finds himself glaring at the photo underneath the title of another man in a suit with his arm wrapped around Emily’s waist. It's a good thing he didn't show up to see her at the ball with her date, he scoffs at the word. This was the man she was willing to risk her heart on instead of him? He can’t even bring his eyes down to the main body of the article. Hadn’t she asked him to wait for her? Instead, his eyes are pulled to look down towards where the brunette who always holds his attention is- or well should be sitting, but her desk is empty. 

“Hotch?” His office door opens and her head pops in.

“Come in.” He minimizes the browser, not wanting her to catch him in the act of looking at articles about her.

“I have that case file for the New York office.” She notices the anger hiding in his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” He says as he takes the file from her outstretched hand. “I’ll look this over and send it off.” Emily doesn’t let him off that easy. Instead she takes a seat in the chair in front of him.

“You know you can talk to me about anything right?”

“I know. But it’s nothing.” He decides to change the topic. “How was your weekend?”  _ With the Ambassador, _ his brain fills in.

“Awful. Mother had this function she wouldn’t let me get out of and she kept trying to introduce me to ‘suitable’ matches.” Emily adds air quotes around her own words. “Which basically means they’re all tangled up in politics, so I’m destined to hate all of them.” She rolls her eyes. “How were Jack’s soccer games?”

“He won both games.” Aaron’s mood is instantly brightened by the indicator that she doesn’t have any feelings for the man that she was pictured in the arms of. Emily notices his face get brighter, and she doesn’t think it’s just about the soccer games, since he doesn’t elaborate on them.

“You knew about it didn’t you?” She knows that Garcia had sent him the invitation, but maybe he hadn’t seen it. Or maybe he did see it and decided against going like JJ suggested.

“Yeah, wait no. What?” Aaron looks at Emily like he’s trying to figure out what answer he’s supposed to give.

“You knew about the Ambassador’s Ball, didn’t you? How?” Aaron doesn’t say anything, but instead opens back up the browser he had minimized before turning his laptop to show her. He could have told her that Garcia sent him the invite, but he doesn’t want her to get mad at Garcia. “You were looking up articles about me?” Emily asks as she looks at the screen in front of her.

“No. Emily I wasn’t. I promise. I went to search something and it was under trending news articles.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me about it instead of reading gossip magazines?” Emily asks defensively.

“I am asking you.”

“No you asked me about my weekend. Not about if I went on dates with anyone. Which even if I had, why do you care?” Emily spits out.

“You know exactly why I care.” Aaron’s voice hushes down an octave.

“No you told me you’re in love with me weeks ago. And then when I kissed you, you shut it down. Then you told me that we needed space from each other. For all I know, you moved on to other people.” Emily shrugs. “Maybe you’re in love with JJ now. Or Morgan. I don’t know where your feelings lie anymore.”

“Emily when I told you how I felt, you ran out of my apartment. I shut down what I thought was going to be a one night stand. And then I told you I needed space because you told me that you couldn’t risk your heart on us. But now you seem angry even though you already knew that I lo- that I care about you. I don’t know what you want.” Aaron runs a hand through his hair, unsure what to do about the situation in front of him. “I wasn’t going to make any further moves until I knew where you stood in all of this. But if you would rather look for suitors elsewhere I’m not going to stop you.”

“Really? Because you seem pretty jealous of the idea of me looking for love elsewhere.” Emily says defensively.

“I’m going to be jealous of anyone else who gets to be with you. But I’m not going to stop you from looking elsewhere if that’s what you want.”

“And what if I want you?” The words leave her mouth and he’s left breathless at even the idea of it.

“Just say the word Emily. All you have to do is tell me.”

“What do you want me to say? Because me sitting in your living room telling you I loved you didn’t seem to be enough. I wasn’t going for a one night stand.” Emily says firmly, but with no hint of anger. “I just wanted you, all of you.”

“Let me take you out then. On an actual date.”

“Why? You don’t need to wine and dine me to get me.”

“I’m not trying to just get you. It’s what you deserve Emily.” Aaron hopes she sees his emotion across his face. “I want to take you on a date, because you deserve that and so much more. Not just tumbling around in the sheets.”

Before Emily can reply, there’s a knock on the door and Penelope’s head pops in. Aaron shuts the computer as she leans in the doorway. “Bossman, my dark haired beauty, we have a new case to brief on.”

“We’ll be there in a moment.” Aaron says before Emily has a chance to leave the room before giving him an answer. “Can you shut the door behind you?” Penelope nods slowly, trying to catch Emily’s eyes, but gets nothing out of them. “So can I?”

“We have a case to work.” Emily says, not revealing anything.

“After it? We both love each other, we’ve both dreamed about each other in different manners, and have both imagined a future with the other. So why not give this a chance?”

“What happens to the bet we have? With Insanity?”

“We can still keep it. It would just be a follow up date. I just can’t wait another forty five days to take you on a date.” Aaron pleads.

“Fine. After the case though.” She turns towards the door, but Aaron’s hand grasps her wrist lightly and she turns back to face him. “Yes?”

“When you asked me to wait for you…” He trails off, not knowing how to finish the question.

“I was almost ready. Now I am.” She says with the lightest of smiles on her lips and Aaron can’t stop the smile that explodes from his own lips. “And now, we go and solve this case so we can come back and have our date.”

“Not with the ambassador?” Aaron can’t help but ask, thinking back to the article that started all of this.

“Marshall is a friend from childhood.” Emily releases a smirk. “I hung out with him so I could escape the men Mother thought were ‘suitable’ matches.”

“And Marshall isn’t a suitable match?” Aaron asks, confused.

“She might think he was if I was his preferred dating gender.” Emily says. “But also he’s engaged, which I don’t know how the press missed that.”

“So soon the press might say you’re trying to break up their engagement.” Aaron teases her.

“Oh clearly. Especially since I introduced them. Definitely want to break them up.” 

“So any of these suitable matches catch your eye?” Aaron asks, not missing that her mother was trying to set her up the other night. But Emily shakes her head.

“I hate politics, remember?”

“Oh I know you do. But the heart will want what the heart will want.”

“My heart already knows what it wants and that’s not a political match made by my mother.” Emily says as they make their way over the catwalk towards the conference room.

“And what’s that?”

“Si tu savais.” Emily says with a wink, before opening the door to enter the room. She’s going to kill him, he’s pretty sure about that. But he will die a happy death.

“What do we have?” Aaron asks as he and Emily sit down in the last two seats around the table. Penelope makes eye contact with Emily and she can tell that she wants to address what she saw in Aaron’s office, but Emily shakes her head ever so slightly. So instead, Penelope jumps to the case instead of questioning her friend.

“Today’s forecast is sunny and warm in Los Angeles, city of angels, which is where you are heading today. Over the past four days, four little girls have been taken from their beds in the night and a super creepy, if I may say, look alike doll has been left in their place. It started four nights ago with Mila-Rose Price. Then the next night Neveah Hayden was snatched from her bed. Followed by Ingrid McKay and then Aimee Reeve taken last night.” Penelope clicks her pointer at the screen as she pulls up school photos of each girl along with their bed sitting with sheets ruffled and the lookalike doll sitting where the child should have been.

“What were the girls last seen in? Do we have that?” Morgan asks.

“That’s where it gets well creepy. The dolls are wearing the exact outfit the girls were wearing to bed.” Penelope explains. “That’s what freaked Ingrid’s parents out. She woke them up in the middle of the night because she threw up and had to change pjs. So the unsub would have had to have been already watching or something.”

“Or he waits until they’re wearing a specific set?” Reid suggests.

“And by chance all four happened back to back?” JJ points out. “That seems unlikely.”

“These girls are what seven to nine years old right? Could it be that their parents have them on a rotation of pjs?” JJ shakes her head ever so slightly.

“Most likely not. Children like to make their own choices as well as there are nights where Jack would wear the same pjs night after night if I let him. If I had to bet, they’re just pulling random sets out of the drawer.” Aaron explains, having a child that fits the age of their victims.

“Ok so somehow the unsub has the exact matching outfit to the kids. Are they popular pjs? Easy to find? Are they sold by brands that make matching sets for the dolls. Like what is it American Girl Dolls do?” Emily asks, thinking back to the girl she used to babysit.

“Not really. These clothes look like they’re handmade.”

“Well right now we have four missing girls and the only lead so far is the clothing on the dolls. So Garcia work on looking at companies that would supply the materials needed. Also see if there’s anything notable about any of the clothing. The rest of us, wheels up in twenty.”

In Los Angeles, the heat is sticky. It may only be the end of March, but the heat is already hitting the high nineties. Emily can feel the sweat dripping down her neck as they get out of the car and walk towards the LAPD station. The sun is hiding between some clouds, but Emily hopes that rain will hold off. If it pours, it will just be sticky and humid which is the last thing she wants.

After having a day off doing nothing yesterday, getting back into the swing of everything by jumping into a case is good. They team heads in to set up, while Rossi and Reid head over to the latest crime scene. Garcia has sent over information for them to get started on. So they’re going to spend time going through them until the parents of their young victims arrive. 

“Once the parents get here, Emily and JJ, I want you to talk to them. See what else we can learn about the children and anything that might have been different about their nights last night.”

The day drags out. They don’t have a ton to go off. There isn’t much of anything from the crime scenes and they’re still sorting through the information from the parents. To make it worse, they have a guess on which child might be their first dead victim. 

Their youngest victim, Aimee Reeve, might have been their last one to be taken, but there is something different that puts her at risk. Aimee, is a type one diabetic on an insulin pump. Her pump only contains enough insulin for three days, but it had been changed the day before she was taken. So when she was taken, she only had enough insulin for two days. So if they weren’t on a time crunch before, they are now. 

Stepping into her hotel room, she knows she needs to just get her workout in and then she can go to bed. Even though it’s late, she texts Aaron.

**Insanity?**

**Ugh.**

**Fine.**

**Ten minutes?**

**Meet you there.**

She wants to workout with him? It’s like the past week didn’t happen. Or it’s like it happened and they’re finally moving past it. It’s late and he doesn’t want to work out but, seeing her for something other than looking at case files that aren’t giving them the answers that they are looking for, he’ll take it. In the gym, he finds her in one of her typical tanks. This one is a peach color and reads ‘Do Mimosas Count As A Juice Cleanse?’. 

“Garcia?”

“Nope I’m Emily. The one you asked on a date, remember?” She teases him.

“I meant the shirt. Is that one from Garcia?” She glances at it.

“It is. Good guess. Most of my ones about drinking or that have foul language are from her.” 

“That’s what I was betting.” He breathes in the sight of her. “I would never forget the fact that you finally said yes to going out with me. That will be burned in my memory forever.”

“You’re ridiculous you know that?”

“Yeah but you love me and that’s all that matters.” Emily can’t even roll her eyes at that because she knows he’s right.

“Fine, you got me there. Now we should probably get our workout in so we can go to sleep.” She opens her laptop to where she already had today’s video pulled up.

“Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs? Can we do anything but that?” Aaron whines.

“I get the feeling you hate all the workouts Aaron.”

“They suck.” He responds honestly. “I think I’d rather eat nails then do this.”

“Metal ones or finger ones?” Emily asks.

“Either. Both. Whichever gets me out of having to do this workout.” She laughs at that.

“Well, unless you’re planning on doing that instead of this…” She trails off and hits play. Aaron hears that dreaded montage that makes him want to throw the computer off a cliff. Once they get into the actual workouts it’s not that bad, but the montage makes it worse he’s pretty sure about that. It hurts his soul to know that it’s starting again. But before he knows it, forty minutes have passed and they’re done with the workout. “Still want to eat nails?”

“I mean, we have to get our post workout meal in.”

“I’ll stick with shakes. They go down easier.” Emily replies with a smirk. “You’re welcome to have your nails though. Lots of… iron?” He can’t help but let the laugh explode out of him. Suddenly she’s laughing with him and she knows that this is the ease that she knew she would have being with him. He’s her best friend. Dating him doesn’t really change that apart from adding in some added benefits. “If we’re finding that funny, we definitely need to get some sleep.” Emily says, closing her computer. “Come on, I think it’s time for bed.” He follows her out of the gym, but in all honesty he would follow her anywhere. 


	23. Day Twenty Three

They’ve hit every dead end possible. But on the plus side, no more kids were taken in the night. The team has mixed feelings on what that means. Half of them think it means whoever the next victim is just didn’t fit the right patterns. The other half thinks it means that the unsub may have a limited amount of holding space. If the latter is correct then they are waiting for a body, which might be worse. They’re focusing right now on doing what they can to find Aimee before her time runs out. They’re running close to the 36 hour mark. If she runs out of insulin, her body can start fighting against her and her body could shut down into a coma or even die.

A coffee cup sits down in front of her stack of files. She looks up to see Aaron walking away with his own cup to sit at the other end of the table where more folders are waiting. He gives her a soft smile as he takes the empty seat next to JJ. Morgan looks up from his own files. “So Prentiss is the only one special enough for coffee Hotch?” 

“You and JJ already have coffee. I wasn’t going to bring you another cup.” Aaron shrugs off the accusation and Emily can’t help but smile into her cup. It might be his excuse, but she can appreciate the sentiment of him caring enough to bring her a cup when they’re all exhausted. “So where are we?”

“Financials all check out. None of the families were into anything shady.” Morgan says.

Emily adds, “there’s a couple coworkers with red flags, but most of them are financial or work related. Nothing involving children. And none of them connect between families,” before taking another sip of her coffee.

“Garcia is already checking the dark web to make sure that if any of the kids show up, we’ll know.” JJ points out. 

“Any leads on Aimee?” Aaron asks, dreading the information that will leave their mouth.

“Not yet, but if the unsub made the dolls match all the girls, why didn’t Aimee’s have an insulin pump?” Emily asks.

“I don’t know,” he admits but then waits for Emily to continue her thought.

“If this unsub is watching their victims far enough ahead to match them to a doll, wouldn’t they know she has type one diabetes?”

“You’re thinking the unsub is prepared?” Morgan asks.

“I wish I could say yes, but more I’m wondering if Aimee was a more last minute victim. The unsub didn’t pay enough attention ahead of time to realize that Aimee has medical needs.”

“Let’s make a profile focusing on that. We still need to focus on finding her before her pump runs out.”

“Her mom is also worried that if the unsub is feeding her she won’t fully know how to bolus for it. She’s only been type one for a year and her mom said that they usually bolus for Aimee. She knows how to use her pump but she doesn’t know how to figure out the amounts of carbohydrates in the food yet.” JJ adds from their conversation with Sharon Reeve yesterday.

“So there’s a chance that Aimee could be very sick even if her pump hasn’t run out of insulin?” Aaron asks.

“There’s a chance. Especially because she doesn’t have a way to check her blood sugar either.”

“Maybe our unsub will be willing to get a meter for her?” Morgan throws out hopefully, but all eyes fall back on the clock. They need to find her before her time runs out. 

“Agent Hotchner, Kindred Hospital Los Angeles just called us. They have an unconscious diabetic patient that matches Aimee Reeve’s description.”

“The unsub took her to a hospital?” Emily hears her own voice ask. 

“Possibly. She was dropped literally outside of the ER and a silver car with a partial plate of D1F sped off. A couple leaving the ER saw it happen and the security tapes say the same thing.”

“JJ call the Reeves and tell them we might have Aimee. Have them meet us at Kindred Hospital Los Angeles. Emily, you’re with me. We’ll go to the hospital to see if we find information that will bring the other girls home. Morgan, call Garcia and see if she can get the footage from the hospital to get any more information.” Emily and Aaron make their way to one of the SUVs sitting outside of the station. 

“So the unsub dropped Aimee off? That doesn’t line up.”

“Why not?” Aaron asks. He knows something is sticking in her mind or she wouldn’t have posed it the way she did, so he adds, “What’s going through your mind Emily?”

“Well the unsub went through with planning of the dolls and taking all the girls. So what happened with Aimee? How did the unsub miss the fact that she was diabetic and why is the unsub just giving her up?”

“I agree it doesn’t fully line up completely with what we were expecting from our unsub.”

“Also, driving up and dumping Aimee where someone could catch their license plate is risky behavior for someone who did such planning with everything else. It almost sounds like two different people.”

“You think our unsub has a partner?”

“Maybe?” Emily shrugs. “It would make more sense than all of these things that don’t line up. One pays attention to the details, the other doesn’t.” Aaron hits a button to call Morgan and JJ.

“What’s up Hotch?” Morgan’s voice rings through the SUV.

“Emily thinks our unsub might have a partner.”

“You think the partner’s the one that dumped Aimee at the hospital?” JJ’s asks.

“That’s what we’re thinking. Can you two work on running that in a profile?”

“Sure Hotch.”

“We’ll see you after the hospital.” Emily replies before Hotch hangs up. 

Looking at the girl that doesn’t take up even half the hospital bed, Emily is shocked how pale this girl looks compared to her school photo. “Are you her parents?” A doctor asks Aaron and her.

“No, we’re the FBI agents that are working her case. Agent Prentiss,” He motions towards Emily, “and I’m Agent Hotchner. Her parents are on the way. How is she?”

“Her blood sugar is dangerously high right now. Nearing 1200. Almost ten times a normal person’s blood glucose. We’ve pumped her with IV fluids and insulin to work on bringing her down and hopefully get her conscious soon.” The doctor’s pager goes off. “I need to go, but if you need anything just ask. Or if her parents get her, have the nurses page me. I’m Doctor Walters.”

“Thank you.” Emily says as she looks over the little blonde girl. Turning to Aaron, she points some things out. “Her hair is brushed and she’s not covered in dirt or anything.”

“So most likely she was kept in some sort of house or storage area that had ways for them to stay clean.” A nurse walks past where they’re standing. “Can I ask you a question?” He holds up his badge to answer the questions that are coming. “I’m Agent Hotchner, this is Agent Prentiss. We’re working Aimee’s case.”

“Uh sure. How can I help you?”

“Aimee’s blood sugar being as high as it is, was her insulin pump out of insulin?”

“No, but if I had to guess, she probably wasn’t giving enough insulin for her food, if any. To spike that high but still have insulin going, she would have to have been eating multiple meals without giving insulin. There’s also the stress that could have raised it too. That’s just a guess though. I’m Cassidy. I’m her nurse if you need anything.”

“Thanks Cassidy.” Aaron looks back towards the girl. They have no idea what she’s been through and they won’t know until she’s out of her coma. 

“Aimee?” Emily can hear Sharon’s voice before she is even down the hallway. Sharon spots Emily and Aaron. “Where’s Aimee?” She asks as she rushes up to them. Emily turns her body so that Sharon can see into the room. “Oh Aimee. My poor baby.”

“Has she ever been in a coma because of this before?” Emily asks softly.

“Once. Back when she was diagnosed.” Sharon answers as she sits down next to Aimee and smooths her hair. “I was really hoping we could avoid another one though.”

“This wasn’t your fault.” 

“I know. But do you know what it’s like to know your baby is in pain and there’s nothing you can do about it?” Sharon’s voice is laced with pain and sadness. “I just want to keep her happy and healthy now.”

“She’s back and she’s getting the treatment she needs. That’s what’s important.” Emily pauses before asking, “The last time she was in a coma, how long was it before she woke up?”

“Five days.” Looking over her shoulder, she can see that Aaron is thinking the same thing; it might be too late for the others by then.

It’s late when they finally left the hospital. Rossi and Reid are staying at the hospital in case anything changes. But for now, her and Aaron are going to head back to the hotel to catch a little bit of sleep before they have to get back to the station.

“Are you going to work out?” Aaron’s voice breaks through the silence of the SUV.

“I’m not losing the bet. I don’t want to be the one to pay for dinner.” She teases lightly.

“You realize we’re going to be going to dinner no matter what? We don’t even have to finish if we don’t want to.”

“I didn’t start this to just go to dinner with you Aaron. I started this to get more fit before my vacation. So to answer your question I’ll still be working out. You don’t have to. There’s no judgement. But I’ll make sure to pick a great meal for you.”

“You only get to pick my meal if the others don’t figure out the bet.”

“But if you quit, the bet’s over and I won.” He glances over at her from the driver’s seat, his left eyebrow pulled down as he looks at her. “A win on a technicality, but a win nonetheless.” 

“If you’re wanting to win on technicalities, then I’m going to stay in this, so you have to actually win to win.”

“That’s fine. But know you can give up at any time and I’ll claim my prize as I keep going.” He rolls his eyes as they pull into the hotel parking lot. “I’m going to run up and get changed and I’ll be in the gym if you want to join in.”

“Meet you there in ten.” He says, turning the engine off.

When he walks into the gym, he can’t wait to see what tank she’s wearing. Somehow she has a million tanks with sayings on them and she hasn’t repeated one yet. She looks up in the mirror and smiles at him. “Glad to see you decided to join me.”

“I said I would.” She stands up and faces him, making her shirt visible. ‘Already Planning What I’m Going To Eat After This.’ Honestly it’s not wrong. He’s probably going to have to make a shake after this to make sure he gets his macros in. “Is your whole closet just hiding more of these tanks?”

“What?”

“You haven’t reworn a single one. So you either own a ton, or you keep buying more.” She looks down at her tank.

“Didn’t know you were keeping track of it.” She can’t help but laugh. “Garcie buys me a lot of them when she sees them online. I like them better than just plain work out gear. But I’ve also been stocking up on them for years. I probably have at least thirty or forty different tanks with funny sayings and then I have some plain workout stuff too.”

“So you just have drawers and drawers of tanks?”

“Basically.” Emily laughs again at the mental image. “But still I get ads for new ones all the time too and sometimes I can’t say no.” She admits.

“So shoes and workout tanks, your shopping weaknesses.”

“You’re ridiculous.” She shakes her head, remembering the comment he made about her shoes when he spent the night. “Let’s get our workout done.”

“And here I thought if I distracted you with shopping, you’d forget what we’re supposed to be doing.”

“I wouldn’t forget. Some of us are in this to win it. But let’s do this before it gets too much later and we lose more sleep.” She opens her web browser and pulls up the videos to pick from. “Cardio Power and Resistance here we go.”

“Let’s get it over with.” Aaron moans from next to her. She’s used to him not being excited at the beginning of the workouts, so she just rolls her eyes and hits play. Aaron hates the montage. That’s what he’s decided from having to hear it so many times over the last twenty three days. It should have a skip intro button. But besides that, the workout passes quicker since he has Emily working out with him again. Their break of working out with each other had made the workouts even worse because he didn’t want to do them by himself. But seeing Emily’s smile when they finished the workout, well that made everything worth it. He would do Insanity over and over again if it meant that he got to see her smiling at him at the end of it. 

“See easy peasy.”

“If that’s your definition of easy, I’d hate to see your definition of hard.”

“I’d rather see your definition of hard.” Emily winks at him. “Maybe you can show me sometime. But right now, I have to go take a shower.”

“You can’t say things like that-”

“Why not?” Emily’s eyebrows rise and fall with her words.

“Because you do things to me that shouldn’t be allowed while we’re working Em.” He husks.

“I’d invite you back to my room, but I don’t know how my boss would feel about that.” She winks at him and turns to leave the gym when he pulls her back to him. All of a sudden, his lips are crushed against hers.

“Don’t tempt me.” He whispers between kisses. His lips leave hers and move down her jaw towards her neck.

“Aaron, gym. In gym.” The words breathlessly escape her lips.

“Don’t care.” He doesn’t care where they are, or if anyone were to see. He doesn’t care that they’re both still sweating from their workout. The only thing that matters is his lips being allowed to worship her skin.

“We’re at work.”

“At hotel.” His kisses into her skin.

“For work.” She reminds him, a hand gently placed on his cheek to stop him from moving any further. She pulls him away from her skin. “Aaron, we can’t do this here.”

“You did mention something about a hotel room.” He reminds her.

“And you said you wanted to go on a date first.”

“I couldn’t give a fuck right now.”

“So I’ll give one for you.” She smiles at him. “You’ll regret it in the morning. So let's hold off. We’ve got time. Plus you already got the yes to the date.” His lips fall softly on hers.

“I love you.”

“I know. I love you too.” She runs her fingers along his jawbone. “Now I think we both need a shower and some sleep before tomorrow.” He knows she’s right. He needs a shower for sure; a freezing cold one.


	24. Day Twenty Four

Waking up in her hotel room the morning after getting Aimee back, she glances at her phone. She has a couple hours before she needs to be back at the station. Maybe she should get her workout in now, get it over with before the day runs away from her. So grabbing workout clothes from her go bag again, she makes her way towards the gym. She shoots a text to Aaron as she walks.

**I’m getting my workout in if youre up**

**Be there in five.**

It doesn’t surprise her that he’s awake. Cases like these have them all on edge. They want to get the kids back to their parents safe and sound. But so far all they’ve done is gotten one kid back by chance. They need more information than they have. Even though these kids look nothing like Jack, she wouldn’t be surprised if he wants to get home soon to hold his son close to him. Hell she wants to hold Jack close and not let him go even though he’s not even related to her.

“Hey.” His soft timber calls to her as he walks in the room.

“Hi. How are you?” She asks, concerned about him.

“Probably about the same as everyone else.” He can see the worry etched into her skin and he wants to pull her into his arms. Is he allowed to do that? They are going to go on a date as soon as they have a weekend. Screw it. “Come here?” He offers his arms to her and she seeks solace within the circle of his arms.

“This isn’t working out.” She mumbles into his chest after a few moments of their arms just being wrapped around one another.

“Fuck it. This is better than working out.” She feels the tension in his shoulders and back release as he holds her. “I miss Jack.” He whispers into her hair.

“I do too. Cases like this, they make me want to see him even more.”

Aaron’s eyes fall to her face, leaning against his chest. “You’re welcome to see him anytime. He loves you a lot Em.”

“I love him too. It’s too easy to love him.” As much as she wants to just stay in his arms and ignore the world around them, she knows they can’t. “We should probably get our workout in.” She says, before adding, “If I knew you were going to be a distraction instead of actually getting work done, I wouldn’t have invited you to join me.”

“Tough. You’re stuck with me.” He places a kiss in her hair, needing to feel that she was real.

“Well come on, be stuck with me doing our workout.” She teases him as she pulls away from his arms. They were the only people in the gym, so they can take as long as they want, but Emily wants to make sure she has time to go back, shower and change before heading into the station. “It’ll be easy. It’s Plyometric Cardio Circuit.”

“I literally hate that one. That doesn’t mean it’s easy Em. We’ve done it too many times now for you to try and trick me with that one.” She can’t help but smile at that.

“Ok, easy might be the wrong word, but sooner we start, the sooner it will be over.” She tries to sound at least somewhat motivational.

“Sooner we start, sooner it’s over. I feel like you’ve said that before.”

“And I was right then and I’m right now.” 

“Fine, let's just do this.” Emily clicks on the video on her phone. “Didn’t bring your computer down today?”

“Texted you after I had already left my room with just my phone.” She shrugs. “Plus as you said, we’ve done this a few times, so it’s not like we really need to see the screen all that much.”

“Fine, fine you’re probably right.” The montage plays from the speakers of her phone as they wait for the workout to start. They make their way through the warm up, the stretches, and the actual moves. The forty minutes speeds by as they sweat through the moves and by the end of it, both agents are feeling more awake, but also in need of a shower.

“And here I thought I’d be the only one at the gym.” Morgan’s voice rings out from the other side of the gym.

“We just finished, so it’s all yours.” Emily tosses to him.

“Do you two never sleep anymore?” Morgan teases.

“Just committed to getting a good workout in.” Aaron explains.

“I can see that.” And Morgan really can. Both agents are looking more toned. Not that they were in bad shape or anything beforehand, but he can see more definition appearing on both of them. “You’re both looking good. You almost done with your program?” Emily shakes her head. 

“We have forty three more days.” Morgan’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Well you’re going to be kick ass at the end of it. Maybe you’ll even be able to beat me in hand to hand combat.”

“Didn’t need to work out more to whip you in that.” Emily teases and Aaron can’t help but let a smile break free.

“Oh so sure of yourself now, but actually take me up on the offer and we’ll see who standing at the end of it.”

“Fine.” Emily says and Morgan looks her over.

“Really?”

“I’ve taken down bigger guys than you, but bringing your ego down would be nice.” She smiles at him. “Now I’m going to go take a shower. Let me know when we’re going to have our little showdown.” Emily tosses over her shoulder. Aaron can’t help but roll his eyes at their antics before following Emily out of the gym. 

They’ve had Aimee back for twelve hours, but that’s about all that’s changed. They still have no leads on the car or who brought her back again. The only thing they have is more frustrating dead ends. JJ joined Reid at the hospital with the Reeves in case anything changes. Emily and Aaron had spent most of the afternoon and evening at the hospital yesterday, so they’ve switched up to get new eyes on the case. Aimee’s blood sugar has come down some, but not nearly enough for her to wake up, so the chances of getting the answers they need is low. 

“We have a body.” Sergeant Barnes’ voice rings through the open door. “A young girl, found off the side of the one oh three.” 

“Emily and Morgan go with.” Aaron directs, not looking up from the files he’s looking at.

“That’s Mila-Rose. But look how different she is from Aimee.” Emily says crouching by the body.

“Besides her being dead and Aimee being alive?”

“She’s got bruises all over her body. Aimee didn’t. Both girls are relatively clean, hair brushed, etc. But she’s still in her pjs that she was taken in, Aimee was brought to the ER in a dress.”

“Do you think the unsub might have changed her back into the PJs?”

“Or the partner. Maybe, wanted to make her look like she was sleeping. Plus her arms are folded and she has a blanket covering her. Those are all signs of sympathy, whereas the bruises say otherwise.”

“So the partner is the more submissive, more caring of the two.” Morgan theorizes. “Maybe a husband and wife?”

“Would make sense. Or a mother and son? Especially with all the handmade clothes, that would take lots of practice to perfect so maybe we’re looking for an older couple or at least one of them being older?”

“A mother might make more sense. She would do anything to protect her son. Even cover up his mistakes.” Morgan throws out and Emily nods in agreement. They’ll bring it up when they’re back with the team, but for right now they need to see if they can find anything else here. Is there something else that can tip them off about what led Mila-Rose to her grave? Did she say something wrong? Did she do something to piss off the unsub? She’s in such a worse condition in comparison to Aimee, there must be something they’re missing. But what?

Emily glances at her phone. They’ve been working on this all day. They’ve hit dead end after dead end and they’re nowhere closer to being able to bring the other two girls home. Right now the only one who can tell them anything is lying in a coma. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Maybe she’ll head to the hospital and relieve JJ and Spencer from staying with the Reeves. It’s not like she’ll fall asleep with all the questions about why Mila-Rose is dead and Amiee’s not keep running through her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: So June just flew away from me. School took over my life and I went a little crazy it felt like. Anyway, hopefully I will get back into the swing of posting regularly. Hope all of you are staying safe with all this COVID stuff!  
> Lizzy


End file.
